Baseball Don and BabyDoll
by KamalaC
Summary: What if 'Charlie' was a diminutive of 'Charlotte', not 'Charles? Don has to deal with his younger sister being a genius - and trying to keep the other male agents from hitting on her while she consults for him, without much luck.
1. Prologue: Snapshots of Childhood

Disclaimer: Numb3rs and its characters are not mine. No profit is made from this piece of fiction.

A/N: Sparked by a random thought – What if 'Charlie' was a diminutive of 'Charlotte', not 'Charles'?

Some of the moments between Don and Charlie are taken directly from my older brother and I. For example, what Don decides to call Charlie when she's first brought home. He wasn't trying to be insulting, he just liked the sound of it. And the habit of sticking his hand in the crib. My big brother is my idol too.

The story will continue on at least through season one, this is just a prologue to show a few key moments from their childhood. More will be scattered throughout the main story to explain any discrepancies due to the gender swap. Rating is due to content from the show, and possible eventual romances. No couples set in stone yet - I've only seen the first two seasons, and this is definitely AU.

Baseball Don and Baby-Doll, Prologue: Snapshots of Childhood. In which Alan flips through the photo album and reminisces.

-BD-

Alan flipped through the photo album, remembering all the small moments from their past. He was in a melancholy mood, probably having to do with the fact that Charlie's thirtieth birthday had recently passed, and was no nearer to settling down than at the age of twenty. At this rate, he was never going to get grandchildren.

He paused at a photograph of a five-year-old Don, holding the newborn Charlie. It brought a smile to his face – even at that age, Don had been good with babies. Even if his first reaction to Charlie had been less than enthusiastic.

-BD-

Don looked down at the bundle in the crib, and scowled.

"I thought I was getting a little brother." He was obviously less than impressed.

"Well, so did we," Margaret gently stroked his hair. "It was a surprise for us to have a girl as well. But you'll still be able to play with her when she grows up a little."

"But she'll want to play girly things," Don protested. "Can't you take her back and get a boy instead?"

"No, we can't," Alan hid a smile. "It doesn't work like that."

"Humph," Don crossed his arms and continued scowling at his newborn sister. Margaret and Alan shared a look, then Margaret turned back to her firstborn in another attempt to win him over.

"Donald, would you like to hold Charlotte?"

"No." Don shook his head firmly. "And that's a stupid name."

"Well, what do you think we should call her?" Margaret was doing her best to placate Don, and he paused for a moment, considering.

"Orc." He nodded, and Alan bit back a laugh at the look on his wife's face.

"O… okay," Margaret rallied quickly. "Well, if you want to call her Orc, you can."

"Really?" Don seemed to perk up a little. "Can I still teach her to play baseball?"

"Of course you can, Sweetheart," Margaret smiled fondly at him. "You're her big brother. You can teach her anything."

Don didn't answer, but seemed a little more receptive to the baby girl now. Margaret decided to try again.

"Would you like to try holding her now?"

"I guess," Don shrugged, and his mother beamed at him. Alan stood back and watched as his son settled himself in the rocking-chair near the crib. Margaret gently lifted the baby from her bed and handed her to Don, showing him first how to properly support her head. The five-year-old seemed to be warming up to his little sister, and held her carefully. One arm cradled her neck, just as he'd been shown, and the other hand gently traced her features. She was currently bald, but Don liked the feel of her head under his hand as he stroked her head. Her large, already expressive eyes were just as dark as his, and she'd inherited the large Eppes nose from their father.

Margaret and Alan stood back, watching their children getting used to each other. Alan quickly came to his senses and grabbed the camera, knowing that he wanted to remember this moment forever.

-BD-

Alan smiled as he remembered Margaret's anxiety over Don's reluctance to have a little sister. It had worked out okay once he'd gotten used to the idea, and he had been a very protective big brother. One thing that he wished he'd gotten a photograph of, was the way that whenever Don moved past Charlie as a baby, he'd always briefly stick his hand in her crib or holder, and let her hold his finger for a few seconds before moving on.

He turned the page, and saw another photograph of the two children that made his heart sing.

-BD-

A year had passed, and although Don still usually called Charlotte 'Orc', he was starting to also use Alan's pet-name for her – Charlie. Margaret despaired of either of them ever using the youngest Eppes' real, full name.

Margaret sighed as she walked into the living room, then froze. Charlotte had pulled herself up to stand with the assistance of the coffee table, and was waving at her big brother. Don was kneeling a few feet away with his arms outstretched.

"C'mon, Orc," Don grinned at his sister. "You can do it!"

Hesitantly, Charlotte stepped away from the table. She carefully tottered forwards for a couple of steps, before she lost her balance and fell. Before she could hit the ground though, Don had caught her. Charlotte babbled up at him in her baby language, and Don laughed as though he knew what she was trying to say.

"Can't let you fall, Orc," he smiled down at her. "You might hurt yourself."

Margaret felt a presence by her side, and turned to see Alan standing next to her with the camera. The couple watched as their children tried again, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched. This time, Charlotte toddled for at least two feet before falling into Don's arms in delight.

Charlotte had officially taken her first steps, and they were towards her brother. She already quite clearly idolised him, and he seemed very fond of her as well. They could only hope that the two would retain their closeness as time went on.

-BD-

Alan chuckled at the memory. After the usual first words of 'mama' and 'papa', Charlie had been quick to learn 'Doddie', which at first was the closest she could get to 'Donnie'. It had been so sweet, and Don had been obviously proud.

The next picture to cause Alan to pause was of Don at the age of ten, kneeling with a baseball bat over one shoulder, the other arm around Charlotte. Both were smiling at the camera, and Alan remembered a few hours before the picture had been taken.

-BD-

"Donnie!"

Don sighed and turned to see his five-year-old sister running down the driveway, carrying a large bag. His friends sniggered until he shot them a glare.

"What, Charlie?"

"You forgot this! Gramma bought it for you to carry your baseball stuff, 'member?"

Stifling a grin, Don reached out and grabbed the bag, chucking his glove and bat inside. He noticed that there was already a bottle of water and a few apples, all of which Charlotte had probably stolen from the kitchen fridge. Don was secretly pleased that she had gone to the trouble for him, but he'd never admit it in front of his friends.

"Whatever, Charlie," he shrugged as he slung the bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you later."

"Okay!" Charlie smiled and ran back to the house. Don watched her for a moment before turning and following his friends to the park, not noticing his father standing at the front window, watching the exchange.

He really did love the girl sometimes, even if she did get all the attention. To Charlie, Don could do no wrong, and he knew all the secrets of the world. Well, all the secrets not to do with maths, anyway.

-BD-

Alan chuckled at the memory. They'd already realised that Charlie had an exceptional mind for numbers, and it sometimes caused strain between the siblings. But Charlie always won her brother around with her adoration, and Don would always stand up for his sister if she was being teased by the other kids.

The next picture was a couple of years later, of Don sitting on the couch and reading to Charlie. Although she was brilliant with numbers, reading was still a great challenge for the little girl, so Don would read to her instead. He actually liked to read, even if his preferred books were all about sport.

-BD-

Twelve-year-old Don closed his book with a sigh. It was so boring… but he had to finish it for school. The only part of it he liked was the relationship between the two main characters, a brother and sister. He paused as he thought about the way the literary siblings showed their affection for each other. The big brother called his sister 'Baby-doll', and she would bring him snacks when he was grounded and sent to his room.

Charlie did that, too. Even if Don was sent to his room for being mean to her, Charlie would sneak some food up to him, or refuse to eat her own dinner until he was let out. Putting the book away slowly, Don decided to try something, and went in search of his little sister.

He found her lying on her stomach in her room, scribbling away at her own homework. At the age of seven, she already had far more work to do than him, thanks to all the special tutoring she had. Charlie didn't seem to mind though – she loved the numbers. The little girl remained oblivious as Don stood over her.

"Whatcha doin', Baby-doll?" He asked, and Charlie jumped. She looked up quickly, a huge smile on her face when she saw who it was. She didn't seem to mind the new name.

Their parents didn't mind either, and it became his new term of endearment for her. At least it was better than 'Orc'.

-BD-

Now, twenty-three years later, Alan sat back and watched as Don and Charlie set about trying to regain the easy friendship that they'd once shared. At times it seemed as though they never would, but he held out hope for them. They'd come this far, and he was certain that they could become close as adults, if only both of them would swallow their damn prides.


	2. Chapter 01: An Alliance Is Formed

A/N: This is quite a long chapter, and takes a LOT of dialogue straight from the pilot. This is a necessary evil, to show just how much things change with Charlie being female. Also to give a brief physical description of her.

It has been pointed out to me that 'Amit' is the male form of 'Amita' - and I like it better. So I've changed his name. Apparently, 'Amita' is a Hebrew name. Go figure. I'm actually not a CA fan, but the sex-change was necessary to keep with the 'will they, won't they' flow in the first season. I haven't decided on pairings yet.

But I am tempted to follow through with Charlie's threat. Just because I'm evil.

Chapter One: An Alliance Is Formed. In which Charlotte bugs Don into letting her help with a case.

-BD-

A small, silver capsule on wheels hurtled down the hill behind CalSci. A helmeted head could be seen poking out of the top, and several students were chasing it. Professor Larry Fleinhardt stepped out of his car in bewilderment as the capsule sped past a speed detector, and the students cheered. A good-looking young man with Indian colouring, whom Larry recognised as Amit Ramajuan, stepped forward whilst noting things down on a clipboard.

"Twenty-one point zero-seven seconds, sixty-eight point three miles per hour." He smiled as the capsule's occupant removed her helmet, letting a mass of curly black hair fall free. "No one would ever guess you don't have a driver's licence."

"MIT and Stamford can't touch that!" The young woman looked ecstatic as the students gathered around to check the capsule and open it up.

"Professor Charlotte Margaret Eppes," Larry stepped forward, shaking his head in resignation.

"Larry!" Charlie smiled up at him. "Gimme a hand." Larry obligingly helped her to climb out of the capsule, holding onto her hand in an effort to keep her attention for more than the usual three seconds.

"So this is what distracts you from helping me, your friend, your colleague, win the Nobel prize for my eleven dimension super-gravity theory?"

Charlie patted him on the back and accepted a notebook and pencil from Amit before trying to explain what they were doing.

"Well, in a way, this project is related to your theory." She gave Larry her most winning smile. Unfortunately, he had become immune to it years ago.

"Wai, uh, I, this go-kart!?" Larry eventually managed to get out, and Amit looked up in amusement before going back to his notes. To be fair, that had pretty much been his response to the experiment as well, but Charlie had been adamant about the designs.

"Go-kart?" Charlie gave a short laugh. "This, this isn't a go-kart." Larry spread his hands toward the contraption, looking completely befuddled, whilst Charlie started moving around it and extolling its virtues.

"This is an extreme gravity vehicle. Its shape will help inform the next generation of high-performance automobiles."

"Okay, okay," Larry interrupted before she could really get going. "Hooray for making things go faster, but I fail to see how this will provide me with the necessary mathematical breakthroughs I need to redefine the fabric of the cosmos!"

Charlie gave him a Look, then pointedly went back to examining the vehicle. She was certain that she could make it go even faster. Maybe if she added a little something to the sides to help with drag… This left her hapless assistant to deal with the flummoxed professor.

"You know," Amit tried, "some physicists do their own math. Ed Whitton, Richard Feynman…"

"Hurtful," Larry wagged a finger at him. "I actually knew Feynman! I actually think of him often. You know, here's a discussion for you: why do we remember the past, and not the future?"

Momentarily thrown, Amit gave him a blank look, so Larry pointed to the math professor herself, who quickly stifled an eye-roll.

"That's a tough one, Larry. Look, I'll have time on Monday, I'll run through some equations for you." She really hoped that would be enough to placate her friend, and gave him a hopeful smile. Larry sighed and nodded, then headed back to his car. He knew that was as much as he'd get out of the brilliant young mathematician right now.

-BD-

Later that night, Charlie could hear her big brother enter the house, and she smiled to herself. They'd arrived at an uneasy peace not long after Don had moved out of the family home for the second time. Not having to deal with each other's presence at all times had let them relax a little, and they were slowly finding common ground again. She hurried down the stairs, nearly running into Don as she navigated the final corner.

"Hey!" Charlie smiled at him. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"Just making sure you don't take complete and total advantage of Dad," Don muttered, though the twinkle in his dark eyes told her he was joking.

"Are you kidding?" She quipped back. "He wouldn't know what to do without me." A soft snort of laughter was her only response as Don headed up the stairs, so Charlie started to head into the dining room.

Her interest, however, was caught by the files Don had left lying on the table in the living room. In particular, the map, with its bright red dots. Equations and patterns immediately leapt into her mind, and it took all of her effort to keep seeing what was physically in front of her. She was so lost in her own world of numbers that she didn't hear Don coming back down the stairs.

"Charlie, what do you think you're doing?" His voice was soft, as though he didn't want to spook his sister, but she just looked at him in interest.

"Crime scenes. What kind of crimes-" She was interrupted as Don lightly pulled her away and started re-rolling the map.

"Get away from here!" Now he was mad, she could hear it in his voice, but her curiosity was piqued. "These are confidential case files!"

Charlie bit back a smirk. If he only knew just how high her clearance went…

"She just looked at the map," Alan decided to attempt to mediate. "I made sure she didn't go through anything else."

"Good!" Don spat out as he grabbed his tie. Charlie folded her arms across her chest and followed him to the hall mirror.

"Thirteen crime scenes spread over a contained region," she commented. "You guys are analysing the significance of those locations?" Don gave her an incredulous look, before continuing with the task at hand.

"Yeah, it's called 'Predictive Analysis', the FBI pioneered it. I trained in it at Quantico, and it doesn't work on sado-serial crimes."

Charlie nodded as she leaned against the doorframe in a pose that would give most of her students pleasant dreams. Don just thought she looked lost inside her own head.

"There's no way to predict the location of the next attack," he continued, hoping to keep her from the question he knew would follow soon.

"Y'know," Charlie started, and Don stifled a groan. "I helped you out on that stock fraud mess. And the IRS extortion case."

"Yeah," Don admitted, "this is different. It's not about numbers."

Charlie gave him an amused look, before she turned to walk away.

"Everything is numbers."

-BD-

Charlie raced into the bullpen, carrying maps and notebooks in her arms. Hot on her heels was Amit, her research assistant, slightly more organised but just as excited. The professor had worked nearly non-stop ever since her conversation with Larry, and had narrowed down an area to work from.

For her part, Charlie was ecstatic about being allowed to help Don. She'd done this sort of work plenty of times in the past for other agencies, but he didn't seem to realise just how many things her equations could be applied to.

Don ushered them both into the room that they were using as command centre for the case. Both Eppes siblings ignored the amused looks form the other agents at Charlie's unprofessional entrance – and appearance. While Don was in a dress-shirt and suit pants, and even Amit looked well-presented if casual, Charlie was wearing her usual combination of whatever clothes happened to be lying around when she got dressed that morning.

So today, it was three-quarter length baggy jeans, with odd socks and white sneakers, a form-fitting tank-top, and one of Don's long-sleeved shirts on top. She hadn't bothered with makeup, and her long mane of curly black hair was in a messy pony-tail. Alan kept telling her that she would be very attractive if she'd just put a little more effort into her appearance. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't interested in attracting a husband, so didn't see much point in wasting time on her looks, time that could be spent with her beloved chalkboards.

Don stifled a grin as he recognised his shirt, but didn't say anything. He was so used to her dressing like that, he wasn't particularly bothered. What did bother him, though, were the looks she was oblivious to, coming from some of the other agents. The men looked like they were undressing her with their eyes, and the women looked condescending. Don had to bite his tongue to keep from going into all-out, protective big-brother mode. That had been a big problem for them in the past, and he needed to learn to let Charlie handle herself. Didn't mean he had to like it, though.

"Amit, can you put the first map right up here, please?" Charlie pushed some whiteboards out of the way to reveal a giant pin-board.

Don automatically moved forward to help the young man, and the two grinned at each other. They both knew how Charlie could get when she was on a roll.

"Now this map," the professor spoke to the room as if they were her students, "was generated by an equation." She turned and started to clean off a whiteboard, and Amit winced.

"Wait, Charlie, don't erase that!" He was concerned that she was destroying something case-related in her haste, but Terry Lake, Don's partner, hurried to reassure them.

"No, it's okay, it's an old case." At the same time, Don waved a dismissive hand. Charlie just kept going, and Don figured she probably hadn't even noticed the interruption.

"I'm writing the equation here," she paused as she did so, "in abbreviated form. I've pin-pointed the area most likely to be the perpetrator's residence."

"You got the guy's address?" Assistant Director Merrick asked, obviously not buying it.

"Not the address, no," Charlie corrected him. "An approximate base. Okay, I'm using some of the same techniques that physicists use to find black holes, which can't be detected in any way, other than the effect that they have on, on objects around them."

She seemed to be growing a little nervous, and Don flicked his eyes around the room. A couple of guys in the corner looked to be just short of laughing out loud at her, whilst everyone else looked highly sceptical. Even Amit looked a little lost, which wasn't promising.

Don returned his gaze to his sister and nodded at her to keep going. He had her back.

"Black holes?" Merrick asked, and Don pushed the annoyance down.

"Walt, she based her work on FBI theories of serial crime," he explained, trying not to sound confrontational. Charlie flashed him a smile, while Merrick still didn't seem convinced.

"Okay, professor," Merrick sighed, "why don't you just walk us through it."

Charlie nodded and turned back to her 'class', already back into teaching mode.

"Amit, can you put up the enlarged version?" He and Don did so, while Charlie kept talking. "The first point, really, to take into account is that when picking places to attack a victim, or to dump a body, the perpetrator will choose sites that appear to be selected at random. He doesn't want you to make any conclusions about where he lives, what areas he frequents."

"Right," Don nodded. This was similar to what he himself had told Charlie the previous night.

"You know what?" Charlie suddenly grinned, and Don felt a little worried. "Let's do an elementary demonstration. Okay, so can you help me just move this back…" Merrick looked on in concern as Charlie set about reorganising the room. Don just sighed and went along with it.

"Just distribute yourselves randomly across this area here," Charlie instructed her 'volunteers'. Amit bit back a laugh – he recognised the demonstration. The professor always had loved to make her lectures interactive. Such as the Eppes Classic – turning the classroom into a casino to explain chance and probability.

"Now," Charlie grinned as the agents stopped moving, "look what you've done. You have distributed yourselves," she started moving between them, using herself as a measuring stick, "at equal intervals."

Amit smiled fondly at her. The way she moved through the sea of bodies, it was almost as though she were dancing.

"While true random patterns," Charlie continued, "will include clusters." Don nodded as the light bulb came on. Terry smiled, getting it as well.

"We're spaced too evenly," she said, and Charlie nodded.

"Exactly. It's pretty difficult to consciously pick a random sequence. Your suspect tried but, like you, wound up with roughly even spacing." She turned back to the map.

"In trying to avoid a pattern, he wound up with one anyway?" Terry's voice was optimistic s everyone took their seats again. Patterns they could work with.

"Yep. Locations purposefully distanced from a site not on your map, but clearly marked in the perpetrator's mind. Namely his residence. The equation," she quickly turned and underlined it, "reveals the probability that each area has of being the subject's base. Yellow's the hot zone."

"I had a feeling about Silver Lake," Terry commented as she glanced at Don, who appeared to be deep in thought.

"I estimate an eighty-seven percent chance he lives in that area," Charlie confirmed.

"You know," Merrick started, and Charlie turned to look at him. "I don't know a lot about mathematics, but this doesn't make any sense to me." Don bit back a groan, then smirked as Charlie drew her shoulders back, ready to defend her theory. Attacks on her math, she could definitely deal with.

"It makes more sense than this," she commented softly as she lifted the lottery ticket from Merrick's shirt pocket.

"You can't win if you don't buy a ticket," he snapped as he snatched it back. Charlie, however, was grinning madly.

"Yes, this is truth. However, the odds of this one being the winning ticket are one," she dashed back to the whiteboard, "in forty-one million. Which means, if you bought twenty tickets every week, you would win the jackpot once every forty thousand years." She had been scribbling the equation as she spoke, and now capped the marker with a flourish. Terry grinned and risked a glance at Don. He was hiding a fond smile behind a hand. After receiving that speech when Charlie was seven, none of the Eppes family had ever purchased a lottery ticket again.

"Really?" Merrick asked, a little dejected.

"Yep," Charlie, on the other hand, sounded triumphant. "It's basic probability theory." She stuck her hands in her pockets and looked around, waiting to see if someone else would challenge her. Don and Terry were avoiding catching each other's eye, knowing that they'd crack up laughing if they did. It wasn't every day that AD Merrick was proven wrong, and they both wished that Charlie would do it more often.

"Agent Eppes!" David Sinclair ran into the room then. "We found the dead girl's car. It's in a parking structure on West Hollywood." The room sprung back to life as agents rose to resume work on the case.

"Let's go," Don barked out orders. "Test it. Run it against cases from the past that have been solved. Miller! Pull some files for her to work with!"

In seconds, Charlie and Merrick were standing alone in the room while Amit went with Miller to collect some files. Charlie turned to her companion with a winning smile.

"So, you ever play craps?"

-BD-

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?" Alan commented to his youngest whilst feeding the pet cockatoo.

"You've met him before," Charlie answered wearily, "he's not my boyfriend, I'm his thesis advisor."

"Does that mean he can't be your boyfriend?"

"It's against the rules," she tried pointing out, but Alan was having none of it.

"Well, screw the rules. What's more important: learning, or love?" Charlie couldn't help the smile that graced her features. Amit looked amused as well.

"Anyway," Charlie looked up, still smiling, "aren't you meant to be threatening any man who comes near me? Or are you confident that Don has that covered?"

"Charlie, you're nearly thirty. I want grandchildren, and Lord knows your brother's not going to oblige any time soon. So, you need to get a boyfriend."

"I dunno," Charlie turned back to her work. "I could always ask Larry to be a sperm donor." Alan levelled a glare at her.

"If you do that, I'm disowning you."

Professor and student both laughed. Amit was picturing young curly-haired kids who were a cross between the physicist and the mathematician. It was a cute – but scary – image.

-BD-

Charlie slammed the phone down in anger. The math wasn't wrong! She knew that it couldn't be wrong. But Don had said all the men in the hot zone had been cleared. Growling in frustration, she turned back to the blackboard and picked up the chalk. She would find the answer, even if she had to stay here all week to do it.

In the background, she could vaguely hear Amit speaking, but couldn't hear the words. It was probably some platitude about how they'd tried their best. He didn't seem to understand just how important this was.

A hand touched her arm gently, and she whirled around while taking a step back.

"I am trying," she ground out through gritted teeth, "to think!" She felt a brief pang of guilt as pain flashed through Amit's eyes, but refused to allow herself to apologise. Charlie turned back to the board, and didn't even notice when the young man quietly slipped from the room.

-BD-

"I can't get my head around it," Charlie whispered as she sat, staring at her hands. Even after talking to Larry, she still couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"What are we missing?" Don asked as he paced in front of the window. "Where's the problem, and how do we make it work?" He was just as determined to solve the problem as his little sister was. Unfortunately, reality seemed to be against them. "We have to make it work."

"You have to retest it," Charlie rose from her seat and approached Don. "We need another run."

"Yeah, well, that's not gonna happen." Don hadn't told his family about being taken off the case yet. He still found it galling… hence why he was still working on it behind Merrick's back.

"Well, I know that it's gonna be hard talking your boss into doing it again," Charlie gestured with her hands as she spoke "but we can't stop after one attempt."

"Charlie."

"These kinds of new methods require repeated trials."

"Charlie," Don hated having to say this to her, "I'm not on the case anymore." Charlie froze, her mind already jumping to the obvious conclusion.

"Why?" Fear and resignation mingled into the one word, making Don feel even worse. He shot a glance at his father, who turned away. How he handled this was up to Don.

"Because, my supervisor wanted fresh eyes on it." He stumbled over the words a little, and the look on Charlie's face said it all. She knew that her unorthodox equation had ruined things for Don. Once again, by trying to help him, she'd royally screwed things up.

"Well maybe the math isn't the problem," Alan spoke for the first time, and both his children turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.

"Well, you just said that there was something you couldn't get your head around. And I know for a fact that it can't be the math." His words echoed Don's own feelings.

"What else is there?" The young professor looked up at her father like a lost puppy.

"Wait, maybe he's right," Don started moving again in an effort to get his brain working. "I mean, that sprinkler, that totally made sense. That you could track back from the locations, find out where the guy lives. Right? Totally made sense. Maybe we're thinking about this guy in too narrow a focus."

"Are you saying I need to consider more than his criminal activities?" Charlie hadn't quite caught up yet, so Don continued.

"No, not exactly. I'm saying that maybe we need to consider more than just where he lives. Look at me: if you designed an equation to find my origin, you wouldn't get my apartment, 'cause I'm almost never there! My base would be my office."

Charlie stepped toward the window, numbers and formulae flashing through her mind. She could already see the start of how to split the end result.

"Which means…" She spoke slowly, trying to form words over the roar of numbers in her head, "we use… his home and his work… as points of origin."

"Exactly!" Don finally sounded triumphant. They could do this.

"I can design an equation to identify two hot zones." Her voice was soft, almost lifeless, and for a moment Don was worried. "Why didn't I think of that?" The life came flooding back to her, and Don smiled as he shrugged. He knew she'd get it eventually.

-BD-

"Hey, Charlie!" Don called as Charlie climbed out of the squad car. She looked a little overwhelmed at all the activity going on around her. "Hey, c'mere. Something I wanna show you." He laid a hand on her shoulder, guiding her to what he'd called her for.

"Y'know, Holdane lived in Century City." Charlie looked disgusted, but Don continued. "But he just moved there three weeks ago. Look where he used to live."

The parking permit was for Silver Lake, Charlie's original hot zone. She looked up at Don, comprehension dawning.

"That's why we couldn't find him in the first hot zone." Don's voice was a mix of soothing and awe.

"He was there," Charlie smiled in triumph, "but he moved." Don smiled back.

"Hell of an equation, Charlie."

The siblings looked around at the controlled chaos around them, and Don figured he should get Charlie home. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders in a half-hug, which she leaned into. Physical contact was fairly rare between the two, and cherished when it occurred. As Don led her back to his car, Charlie couldn't resist getting one more shot in.

"Everything is numbers."


	3. Chapter 02: A Tradition Is Started

A/N: Thanks to Tammy for pointing out the Amitan/Amit thing. Previous chapter has been updated to reflect more current information.

I'm glad the rest of you are enjoying it. If you have requests for specific episodes to undergo the full re-write, let me know, and as long as we haven't passed it yet I'll include it. Otherwise there'll usually only be one or two key scenes redone. So far that's one request for Sniper Zero, one of my favourites.

And yes, EvilLittleOwl, Colby's reaction to female Charlie will definitely be interesting.

Chapter Two: A Tradition is Started. In which Charlie recruits Don for support, and Don finds out that not all maths functions are boring. Also, Don is very protective.

-BD-

Special Agent Don Eppes was bored. He'd just finished a case, just filed the last of the paperwork. There was still an hour before he could leave, and he was desperately trying to speed up the clock through sheer will-power. It didn't seem to be working.

His cell phone went off then, and he grabbed it in delight. Catching a case this late in the day was better than sitting around bored for the next hour.

"Eppes."

"Donnie," Charlie sounded on the verge of tears, and Don sat up straight.

"What's wrong?"

"Don, I need a huge favour."

"Anything," he answered without hesitation. He'd do anything to keep Charlie from crying.

"You might regret that in a moment." She already sounded a little better. "I'm meant to give a speech and present an award at a special dinner tonight. Larry was going to accompany me, but Dr Adler railroaded him into attending meetings all evening!" Dr Adler was the head of the physics department at CalSci – and didn't get along with Charlie at all. "And Dad's got his book club meeting here, I can't ask him to cancel it."

"Wait, let me get this straight," Don interrupted. "You want me to go with you to something math related?"

"Please, Donnie!" Charlie was sounding desperate again. "I can't go by myself, you don't know what it's like to be a female alone at one of these things!"

"What do you mean?" Don asked, confused.

"I mean, the men who aren't condescending asses will be trying to grope me. I can't face that by myself!" For a moment, Don saw red, and knew that Charlie heard him growl.

"Donnie?"

"I'm bringing my cuffs and gun," he stated firmly. "Anyone touches you, they get hauled off for assault."

Charlie laughed then, and Don smiled. That was more like it.

"Okay Don. Make sure you're out on time, I'll catch a cab to your office."

"Come on up to the bullpen, you can keep us company until we can leave."

"Will do. See you soon – and thanks."

"No problem, Baby-doll."

As he hung up, Don caught the interested looks from David and Terry. They'd heard his side of the conversation, but were still confused.

"Charlie," he explained. "She's giving a speech at a dinner thing tonight."

"And she called you because…" David still looked confused.

"I'm going with her. For… immoral support." He grinned at his subordinates, who both laughed.

"Shouldn't you change then?" Terry asked. "If it's a fancy thing, I doubt jeans and shirt are the acceptable attire."

"Got nothing else," Don shrugged. "If it's that bad I'll stop at home to change."

-BD-

Half an hour later, Charlie stepped into the bullpen. Don knew this, because he saw David's jaw drop. He turned, and had to admit that the sight wasn't in sync with Charlie's usual hap-hazard appearance.

She wore a floor-length black gown which hugged her figure and left her shoulders bare. At her neck was a simple silver chain with a tear-shaped pendant, and a delicate silver watch graced her wrist. Her hair was half pulled back into an elaborate knot, while the rest hung loose down her back. On her face was a bare amount of makeup.

In all, Don could see why she tended to get groped at these things. Hell, she was attracting a lot of stares here – though a death-glare from him was enough to send the staring agents scurrying back to work.

"Hey Don," Charlie smiled as she reached his desk. "Thanks again for doing this. I can't stand going to these functions by myself."

"No problem," Don waved a hand in dismissal. "I got nothing else to do tonight."

"Great. Oh, I brought this," Charlie held out the suit she'd been carrying. "It's a formal event."

"See?" Terry muttered. Don shot her a glare, then accepted the suit.

"Okay. I'll go change. You wait here. And Terry?"

"Yeah?"

"Anyone tries to hit on her while I'm gone, shoot them."

"Donnie…" Charlie rolled her eyes in exasperation, while Terry chuckled. David, on the other hand, quickly turned back to his computer screen. He was fairly certain that Don wasn't joking, and that Terry would follow her orders to the letter.

-BD-

Charlie was quiet on the drive to the hotel, which was unusual. She kept biting her lower lip, which told Don that she was nervous. He shook his head and grinned. It was a maths event – how bad could it be? Sure, he'd be bored, but Charlie would be in her element.

They pulled into the hotel's parking lot, and into the first available park. It was only a short walk to the hotel itself, but Charlie was already uncomfortable by the time they made it through the doors. She hated wearing high heels.

Once inside, Charlie headed straight for the main conference room. She'd been here before, and Don just shrugged and followed her lead. It was obvious that she was apprehensive, but he still couldn't figure out why. Surely she'd just been exaggerating on the phone earlier.

Upon entering the conference room, he suddenly had a little more understanding. Of maybe two hundred, two hundred and fifty people in the room, he could see about ten other women – and all of them looked bored out of their skulls. They were obviously not mathematicians. It gave Don pause for thought – not only was Charlie a genius, not only was she young, but she was also a woman in an extremely male-dominated field. No wonder she didn't want to come to this thing by herself.

Then Charlie broke into a genuine smile, and hurried up to a pair of men who were apparently in the middle of an argument.

"Max! Arnold! I didn't think you'd make it!"

"And miss your speech?" The older man smiled as he bent to kiss Charlie's cheek. "Never, m'dear. It's the highlight of my month."

"Flirt," Charlie grinned at him, then turned to Don.

"Don, this is Dr Arnold Myer, and Professor Max Jennings. Gentlemen, this is my big brother, Special Agent Don Eppes."

"Of course," the younger man, Max, spoke. "I remember you talking about your brother before. I see the family resemblance, especially around the eyes."

Charlie and Don shared a look. It wasn't often that someone could tell that they were related, though he was right about the eyes. Both siblings had inherited their father's dark, almost black eyes.

"As luck would have it," Arnold continued, "you two will be sharing our table. Perhaps you can even join in our little… discussion."

Don looked sceptical, but Charlie smiled.

"If it's the usual, I think Don will be more help than me." Don turned an incredulous gaze on his sister, who grinned at him. "They're baseball fanatics."

"Oh, thank God," Don said, relieved. "Sane people at one of these things!"

Max laughed and slung an arm across his shoulders as he guided them to their table. The two were already off and running, talking about the finer aspects of Don's favourite sport.

The first part of the evening went well. There were a couple of other men at the table, who both acted as though baseball was below them – so Charlie and the others ignored them. Don was happy sharing stories from his minor-league days, and Max and Arnold were keen listeners. Every now and then Charlie would chime in with statistics or her own observations. She'd gone to a few of his games in college, even if he hadn't always been aware of it.

At one point, Charlie got up and left the table. Don didn't take much notice – until he heard the previously ignored men talking about her.

"Don't know what Eppes thinks she's doing here," a portly, unkempt man spoke. "Mathematics is no woman's field. Honestly, she should be married and popping out kids."

"Exactly," the other agreed. He was taller, with a truly awful wig that didn't match the colour of his remaining hair. "I'd certainly tap that, if she wasn't such a damned know-it-all."

Don bit down hard on his cheek to clear the red haze threatening to take over. No one got away with calling Charlie a know-it-all except him. Max and Arnold were both glaring at the speakers, but Don had something better. He pulled his badge out of his pocket and laid it on the table, making sure the arrogant pigs could see it, then leaned forward and gave them his best 'pissed off Federal Agent' glare.

"One more word," he ground out through gritted teeth, "and I'll arrest you both for harassment."

The first speaker was gobsmacked that someone would be standing up for Dr Eppes' honour, but Don wasn't finished. He cast his eye over the one who said he would 'tap' Charlie, and snorted derisively.

"And you… you'd never have a chance with her. For one, she's got a little too much self-esteem to crawl into bed with someone who thinks that ridiculous wig's fooling anyone."

With that, he turned back to the sporting discussion, which had turned to the different types of football. Max and Arnold were both trying to contain their laughter, with only moderate success.

After a moment of shock, the nameless cretins stood and left. Not long after, Charlie returned, and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What happened to Drs Caulfield and Reynolds?" She asked. Don shrugged, feigning ignorance.

"Guess they didn't like our topics of conversation."

Charlie narrowed her eyes, guessing that her big brother had something to do with the disappearance of two of her least-favourite peers. Don, however, was the very picture of innocence. She sighed, figuring that she'd just interrogate Max later.

-BD-

Eventually, the time came to present the awards. Don grew bored very quickly, and resorted to muttering his own commentary to Charlie. She was struggling to maintain her composure and pay attention, given the awards that Don was making up.

"And this not-so-prestigious award for the most waffle talked and waffles eaten..."

By the time Charlie had to give her speech, she was nearly in tears from keeping her laughter under control. She was glad to escape her brother's comments, but at the same time she was incredibly nervous. Sure, she spent most of her days speaking to large groups of people, but teaching was different to giving a speech to her peers. Charlie had always hated giving speeches.

Don could see that Charlie was nervous as she stood in front of the room, so he did what any normal big brother would do. As soon as her gaze came to him, he crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at her. Immediately Charlie ducked her head, shoulders shaking, and looked at her notes. Don knew that she was fighting a total crack-up. When she looked up again, her mirth-filled smile was radiant.

"My esteemed colleagues…"

-BD-

"Hey Don?" Charlie asked as they went back to his car later.

"Yeah?"

"I really hate you."

"I know," Don flashed her his genuine, eye-crinkling smile, and she couldn't help but grin back. They settled into the car and Don started the engine, reflecting that the night really wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be.

"So," he asked as he manoeuvred the car out into the street again, "when's the next one?"


	4. Chapter 03: Nothing Is Certain

A/N: Ep-fic of Uncertainty Principle, because there's some classic scenes between Don and Charlie that needed to be addressed in this verse. Also, because this ep has some of my favourite lines.

Hmm, so that's two votes for a Charlie/Edgerton, which I must admit is my first love… see 'Sniping Equations' and 'Parallax Method' for my slash-writings of those two. Though a triangle with both Colby and Edgerton could be promising… I think I know where I'm going to be taking this. *evil grin*

Melissa: Thanks for the constructive feedback, it is muchly appreciated. And I agree with the clearance comment. It probably wasn't made clear, but in my verse, Charlie's clearance works that she is able to be read into pretty much any case if she goes through the proper channels, not that she can wander anywhere she feels like. But most of the misconception probably comes from that line in 'Vector', when Don says that she doesn't need a visitor's pass to visit his office.

Also, the line about the dead and the wounded comes from the novel 'Dragon' by Steven Brust, and is an assassin's recollections of a battlefield. I just loved the idea of Charlie being so upset by the bloodshed that she mixed up the living and the dead.

Anyway, on with the story.

Chapter Three: Nothing Is Certain. In which Charlie panics, and Don fights to keep her attached to reality.

-BD-

Charlie dished out the pie while Larry moved about the kitchen finding cutlery. It didn't distract either of them from their conversation, and neither did the television on in one corner of the kitchen.

"Well, wait," she said, thinking aloud, "let's clarify. This is the red-headed post-doc? Red-headed and he plays baseball?"

"Yeah, yeah," Larry nodded, smiling a little. "Really brilliant theoretician." He'd known that Charlie would jump at the chance – if a man had a sharp mind and fit body, she was putty. Then he noticed what was on the television, and froze.

"Well forget the undergrads, I'll help him!" Charlie's grin faded when she saw the horror on Larry's face. She spun to look at the TV when she heard the word 'shoot-out', and felt her heart drop.

"Don…" She ran for the car. She needed to find Don.

-BD-

Smoke was all around her, from the car bomb. Everywhere she looked there was chaos. Dead people were moaning and writhing on the ground, and the wounded were lying still, and she was fairly sure it was meant to be the other way around, but she could feel her logical mind struggling to take everything in.

A man in a uniform tried to block her path, but a word from Terry was enough to let her through. Part of her wished that the man had been more adamant, and that she could run back home to the safety of the garage – and that part was growing louder by the second. But she had to see Don first.

At her feet, a bullet lay in a pool of blood, and Charlie knew that the image would stay with her in her nightmares. She only became aware of Terry beside her after the agent called her name thrice.

"Where's Don?" It sounded as though her voice was coming from miles away, and Terry looked at her for a moment.

"He's over there," she indicated one of the ambulances, and Charlie's heart fell again. Don was hurt?

Terry quickly ushered her to where an EMT was putting a bandage on Don's arm. He looked more confused than anything else.

"Hey Charlie, how you doing?" If she hadn't felt so guilty, Charlie would have laughed. That was such a… such a _Don_ statement. He was the one with a bullet wound, and was worried about Charlie, who hadn't even been there.

"It's okay, really," Don assured her after seeing the look on her face. "It's fine." He seemed concerned about something, so Charlie hastened to explain.

"They weren't violent, there were two of them," she hated how desperate she sounded. "Why sixteen robberies exactly the same, and then this?"

"Well first of all, nobody ever tried to stop 'em, right?" Don asked Terry. "And it wasn't just two guys, y'know, they had four backing 'em up."

"Yeah," Terry agreed. "We had no way of knowing until we confronted them."

"You're good to go," the EMT finally told Don, and he stood up quickly. First stretching a little, he then pulled Charlie into a brief hug, before holding her at arm's length.

"Nothing to Dad, okay?" He tried to look her in the eye, but she was avoiding his gaze. "Charlie. Don't say anything to Dad, I'll take care of it. Okay? You heard me, right?"

Charlie nodded, but the truth was that she was struggling to hear anything over the roar of numbers in her head. She needed to get back to the garage.

-BD-

Don, however, had insisted that she come back to the FBI office. He seemed reluctant to let her too far out of his sight at the moment. So she sat in the war-room, staring at the board with her equations written on it, trying to see where she'd gone wrong.

"Charlie? Did you hear what I said?" Don's voice was low and soft, as though speaking to a frightened child. He'd seen the look in her eyes before, and it scared him. She was close to losing it.

Add to that the fact that she'd been sitting silent ad perfectly still for the last half hour, and he was beginning to freak out. Charlie was _never_ silent for this long.

"I'm just, ah… thinking," she whispered, before turning to face him – though she kept looking back at the boards. "Understand that this is an entirely new problem now. The pattern I was working from was a false pattern."

"No," Terry shook her head. "No, not so much false as incomplete. You were able to accurately predict today's robbery."

"Right, but there's new factors now. Okay? They aren't two unarmed guys, so the assumptions we made about them are invalid."

"Okay, all right," Don tried to calm his little sister. "All right, look, so you take the new factors and you make a new equation. Right?"

"It's not that easy," Charlie muttered as she flung herself up from the chair and started moving. Don had thought the stillness was bad, but now her agitated movements seemed even worse. "It's not that easy because, ah, there's something else that has to be considered."

"Like what?" Don decided to keep her talking. At least she wasn't shutting down on them yet.

"Heisenberg's uncertainty principle," Charlie said, sounding defeated. "Heisenberg noted that the, ah… that the act of observation will affect the observed, in other words when we watch something we change it… and ah… for example, like an electron. You know, you can't really measure it without bumping into it in some small way." Her pacing and gesturing were unnerving to watch. She was really worked up about this. "Any physical observation requires interaction in some way with a form of energy, like light."

Charlie was standing on the other side of the transparent board, with the equations seemingly written over her. Don didn't care much for the image. She kept talking about electrons, though Don didn't understand it.

"Wait, wait, hold on, you know I got, like a 'C' in physics," Don tried to lighten the mood a little. Tried and failed. "Just take me through how this relates to the case."

"Don," Charlie finally came out from behind the board and approached him again. "You've observed the robbers, they know it, that will change their actions."

"Okay, so they change their MO," Terry spoke and Don turned to look at her. He'd almost forgotten that she was there, he was so focussed on Charlie. "But we don't have to go back to square one. We know some things about them, we have a basis for making some conclusions."

"Yeah, right, good, but I, ah…" Charlie looked at Don with those large, expressive eyes, and he saw the fear. Fear of what, he couldn't exactly say, but she was definitely terrified of something. "I can't help. I can't do this." She turned and started trying to erase the equation, but Don was quickly at her side, holding her wrists gently.

"Charlie, listen to me. What you saw was bad. Trust me, I know. So I want you to go home and get some rest, get a little sleep, then maybe you can work on this when you're feeling better. Okay?" Charlie lifted the eraser again, but Don confiscated it with a small smile. "Go home, Charlie. And call me if you come up with something."

"Call me if you need to talk," Terry murmured as Charlie left, leaving the two agents to look at each other.

"She didn't look too good," Terry commented, and Don shook his head.

"I knew she shouldn't have gotten into this. It's too much for her."

Terry watched as Don went back to his desk. It was clear to see how much he loved his little sister, but Terry couldn't help thinking that he was a little over-protective. Charlie was a grown woman, after all, even if she had been sheltered most of her life.

-BD-

Night had fallen, and Don was worried. Both Alan and Larry had tried to talk Charlie out of the garage, and both had failed. He hated doing this, but he needed to bring her back to work on the bank case.

"Charlie, look, you helped us find these guys once before, you can do it again."

"Why, so you can get shot again?" Charlie muttered as she hung another blackboard. Don was taken aback at the venom in her voice.

"No! Baby-doll, look, I appreciate that you care about me, but it's not gonna happen!"

"Statistically," Charlie said, not looking at him, "you're dead now. Do you understand what that means? A man aimed a gun at your head and fired." A shiver went down Don's spine at that. He had tried not to think about it too much – but Charlie obviously had. "The fact that you survived is an anomaly, and it's unlikely to be the outcome of a second such encounter." Her voice was close to breaking, and Don couldn't stand it. He gently pulled her away from the board and wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her a little before he continued.

"Listen to me. I'm still here. And we need your help. We don't have many leads. If you can help us predict when and if these guys are gonna hit another bank… this is the only shot we've got." Don's voice was soft and pleading. He never used that voice on anyone except Charlie, but now not even that seemed to be working.

"Please… understand…" Charlie broke away, still alarmingly close to tears. She went back to writing on the board, even though her hand was shaking so badly she could hardly hold the chalk. "Sometimes… I can't choose what I work on. I can't follow through on a line of thought just because I want to, or… or because it's needed! I have to work on what's in my head, and right now… this is what's in my head."

Don stood, watching as Charlie seemed to shut down and become little more than an equation-writing machine, and felt the same cold anger as the last time they'd been through this. But this time, the anger was mostly directed at himself – if he'd been more careful with what Charlie worked on, maybe they wouldn't be doing this now.

Charlie didn't seem to notice, but Don sat in the garage, watching over her until she finally collapsed on the old couch and slept. He gently covered her with an old blanket, then returned to his chair and resumed watching. When Charlie got like this, she could turn into a danger to herself without even realising it.

-BD-

Terry stood, watching as Don made his way to the koi pond in an attempt to reason with his little sister. Alan offered her a cup of coffee, smiling slightly. He liked Terry.

"You know," he started, "Don and Charlie graduated high school on the same day."

"Thank you," Terry took the coffee, barely taking her eyes off of Don. "Don's mentioned it. A few times."

"Kind of puts an edge on that sibling rivalry thing, y'know? Even being different genders, they still somehow felt that they had to compete."

"Still do sometimes," Terry commented, and Alan nodded. "But having a kid like Charlie had to put some unusual pressure on the family. How old was she? When you first realised she was exceptional, I mean."

Alan paused. Both of his children had always been exceptional, at least to him. But he knew what she meant.

"She was three… when she multiplied four-digit numbers in her head." Terry glanced at him, surprised, before turning back to the window. "By the age of four, she needed special teachers, special classes. My wife… I mean, their mother and I… we put a lot of time into her education." Her more so than me, Alan admitted to himself. Charlie's mind had always intimidated him, even though he loved her dearly.

"It was Don," he murmured, "that had to get used to taking care of himself."

"Well, he might have gotten used to it," Terry commented, "but I'm not sure he's as good at it as he thinks he is."

"Well," Alan sighed, "it's hard for him to ask anyone for help. And it's especially hard for him to ask Charlie."

-BD-

Out by the pond, Don was at his wit's end.

"I mean, we think they have special military training, and now they've struck again and killed another innocent person, Charlie," Don tried. Charlie just moved a little, to find a better position to observe the koi. "Charlie, please don't do this," he was out-right pleading now.

"Do you understand the stakes we're dealing with here?" He demanded, starting to get angry. "More bloodshed? People's lives? I mean, if I have to do this on my own, it's gonna put me and all my team at greater risk! Is that what you want?"

"The old pattern's gone," Charlie finally spoke softly, though she refused to meet his eyes. "I told you."

"Well then there's gotta be a new pattern, doesn't there?" Don shouted as he grabbed Charlie's arm, ignoring her flinch. "Doesn't there? Isn't that how it works? You incorporate whatever's going on!"

Charlie yanked her arm away from him and stumbled backwards. The back of her legs hit the bench and she sat heavily, looking up at Don. She finally met his gaze, and he was kicking himself, because now he could see just how badly he'd frightened her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he stepped back, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm sorry… I… I need your help. You understand?"

Charlie looked down at the ground.

"I don't think I… I…" she couldn't seem to finish the sentence.

"Charlie, look, I know it's hard for you, I understand that, but it's hard for… for everybody!" The anger was coming back as she gave him a look that quite plainly said 'no, you don't understand'.

"You know," Don started angrily, "I don't know how I got into the situation where I need your help to do my job, but I sure as Hell have!"

He turned and walked away, furious again. How on earth did Charlie manage to do this to him? What should have been a simple conversation had turned into an emotional rollercoaster, as he swung between guilt, anger, concern and frustration.

"I wish you'd just snap out of your precious bubble for once!" He shouted. Damn, she really made him mad sometimes.

-BD-

Charlie took a deep breath as she hung her visitor's pass around her neck. She had to do this, had to help fix things. Pausing in the doorway to the war-room, she met Terry and David's gazes with a nod. She was back to work.

Don's expression was almost comical in its shock. He obviously hadn't been expecting her to show up at the office any time soon, and Charlie managed a tiny smile. He'd been right – Charlie had been living in a bubble.

Now the bubble had burst, and it was time to face the world.

-BD-

That evening, Don sat at the table with his father and sister, sipping from a bear bottle and helping himself to a good dinner. He was reassuring Alan that everything had gone well.

"Yeah, Dad, we arrested every suspect, and only one shot was fired. And it wasn't at me, which was a bonus."

"Really? How'd you pull that off?"

"Well, we knew roughly where they'd try to hit the next shipment, and I knew they'd have an escape plan."

"Very clever," Alan smiled at his son.

"Yeah, I guess I was inspired by Heisenberg, just like Charlie here suggested." Don grinned at his sister, who smiled back.

"Heisenberg?" Alan looked confused. "You mean the physicist?"

"Yeah," Don nodded. Putting down his sandwich, Alan levelled a look at his daughter.

"Your brother goes into a confrontation with heavily armed felons, and you prepare him with a lecture on the movement of sub-atomic particles."

Charlie paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Yep." She gave him a cheeky grin. "It worked, didn't it?"

"…Yes. I guess it did." He smiled fondly at both of his children. "I'm telling you, if your mother could see you two now, she would be… so happy."

Don and Charlie looked at each other, knowing that it was true. Sure, they had their ups and downs, but they came through it okay in the end. Don reached across to ruffle Charlie's hair, and she rolled her eyes at him.

Alan laughed at the interaction. Ah, children. Evenings like this made all the heartaches worth it.


	5. Interlude One: Nightmares

A/N: Sara and Tammy, thank you for your honest comments. You both have extremely valid points, and I'll try to keep it in mind for future chapters. That being said, hope you enjoy the little interlude.

And Tammy, one vote for Colby/Charlie registered. I have to admit that that pairing has been growing on me of late.

Interlude: Nightmares. Twenty-five years apart, the siblings have very similar conversations.

-BD-

Twenty-five Years Ago

"_Donnie?"_

"_Charlie? Huh? Geez, what do you want? I was sleeping!"_

"_I… I had a nightmare."_

"_Oh. A nightmare, huh?"_

"_Yeah. My math book grew teeth and tried to eat me!"_

"_Wow. That's… some nightmare."_

"_Yeah."_

_Pause._

"_So, uh… you wanna sleep here tonight?"_

_The only answer was a tiny girl climbing into his bed, and Don smiled. As Big Brother, he could banish any nightmare._

-BD-

Present Day

Charlie yawned as she made her way up to bed. She'd spent most of the night working out in the garage, and had gotten to a point where she was happy to leave off and go to bed.

As she passed the dining room, she smiled. Don was spending the night after closing a horror of a case. Charlie hadn't helped – Don wouldn't let her – and she'd worried about him. Especially when Terry let slip that he'd been threatened by a suspect. But it was all over now, and Don was here.

Suddenly wanting to see him, Charlie hurried quietly up the stairs and pushed open Don's bedroom door. She told herself that she was just going to see that he was still there, then leave.

Until she heard a whimper.

Pausing in the doorway, she watched as Don seemed to be caught in a nightmare. It looked as though he was trying to fight someone off. Without thinking, Charlie crossed to sit on the edge of his bed and gently took his hand.

"Donnie, shhh," she whispered. "You're safe. You're home. There's nothing to fight."

Soon the fight left him, and Charlie smiled as she replaced his hand inside the covers. As she stood again, however, Don groggily opened his eyes.

"Charlie?" He rasped, voice still thick with sleep. "What are you doing in here?"

She paused, knowing that Don wouldn't appreciate her seeing him when he had a bad dream. Then she shrugged and looked him in the eye.

"I had a nightmare."

Don blinked, then smiled. He might be tired, but he wasn't stupid. Charlie was still fully dressed, and had been happily working on one of her problems – he glanced at the clock – only an hour ago. No way did she fall asleep and have a nightmare in that time. Especially not when he'd been having one of his own. When it came to him, she really was a terrible liar.

"Oh. A nightmare, huh?"

"Yeah," Charlie said softly. "My big brother got so caught up in protecting me that he didn't take care of himself, and he got hurt when he wouldn't let me help him."

Don glanced down, unable to meet her eyes.

"That's… some nightmare."

"Yeah."

They sat for a moment, before Don smiled tiredly at Charlie.

"So, uh… you wanna sleep here tonight?"

Instead of answering, Charlie toed off her shoes, and climbed under the blanket. Sure, a 30-year-old professor sharing a bed with her older, federal agent brother was odd, but she figured that they both needed the comfort tonight. She waited until Don's breathing evened and she knew the nightmares wouldn't come back before she let herself close her eyes and follow him to sleep.

This time, it was Charlie's turn to be the guardian – and Don thought she wasn't doing too badly.


	6. Chapter 04: Guns 'N' Numbers

A/N: Well, I'm back! After a week of gaming convention, and a couple weeks of writer's block. Thanks for sticking around, Zillah seems to have done her job and hunted down my muse again, so updates should resume. This chapter, admittedly, is a little choppy, but at least it's written. I may come back later and re-do it so it flows better, but then again I'm extremely lazy. Consider yourselves lucky that I'm writing at all to begin with.

We're skipping ahead now, to Sniper Zero, because I'm interested in how Charlie and Edgerton will react to each other. Or, more accurately, how you lot will react to their interactions. Starts off following the ep pretty closely – then takes a major veer off into AU-land, which I'm sure will please a lot of you.

And I know that most of you won't like the way it ends, just… please don't lynch me until the whole story's over. You never know what's coming in later chapters.

Chapter Four: Guns 'N' Numb3rs. In which our favourite mathematician meets our favourite sniper, and sparks fly.

-BD-

As the months passed, Don and Charlie gradually found an acceptable balance in their working relationship. Don was still incredibly protective of his little sister, but he was resigned to the fact that he couldn't always prevent her from inserting herself into investigations.

Such as now. Don was busy talking to David about the dead mailman, whilst Charlie had swiped a police officer's clipboard and was estimating shooting positions. She smiled slightly to herself, knowing that Don didn't want her to be at the crime scene right now. But she was curious – she couldn't help herself. Charlie figured that one day her curiosity would get her into trouble, but right now she didn't really care.

She'd deal with that day when it came.

-BD-

Charlie bit her lip and fumed as she wrote furiously on the chalk-board. That Edgerton really got on her nerves! Sure, he was good looking, and intelligent, and got on well with Don… she sighed and paused in her writing, not really hearing Amit and Larry talking behind her. _Face the facts_, she thought to herself. _He may be an arrogant bastard, but you find sniper-guy fascinating and attractive._

Shaking her head, Charlie tuned back into the conversation in time to hear Larry mention his aunt being afraid to leave the house.

"Why don't you tell your aunt," she suggested, "that statistically speaking she has more chance of being mauled by a bear."

"Actually," Larry mused, "statistics would favour the bear being mauled by my aunt, but…" Charlie laughed, remembering some of the other stories about this aunt. Larry had a good point. "This fear, this reaches beyond the realm of statistics, Charlotte." He sank down onto the couch and made himself comfortable, settling in for a long discussion. "This is about arbitrary, inescapable death. Y'know, times like these, you just wind up speculating about paths not taken, jobs left undone…"

"Larry," Charlie said with a small pang of guilt, "I… I'm trying to get those equations done for you, as soon as I can."

"No, no, no," Larry waved a hand in dismissal. "At that moment I was actually thinking of a far more prosaic legacy. Someone to carry on the Fleinhardt standard."

Charlie raised her eyebrows in astonishment and shared a glance with Amit. He looked just as surprised, and also a little devious.

"I didn't know you wanted kids, Larry," Charlie said thoughtfully.

"Well," Larry continued toying with a ceramic plate, unable to meet her gaze. "Children are wormholes. They're portals into the unreachable future and unattainable past. As things stand, though, they exist only in the theoretical realms."

Charlie stifled a laugh and turned back to the blackboard, whilst Amit continued to watch the despondent physics professor.

"Y'know," he started, and Charlie bit back a groan. She knew that trouble-making tone of voice. "Charlie threatened her father once with asking you to be a sperm donor for her own kids."

"Really?" Larry looked surprised. "Do you want children, Charlotte?"

"It was a joke," she glared at Amit. "A joke to get Dad to shut up about me producing grandchildren for him."

"Ah, that sounds far more likely," Larry nodded. After all, Charlie may have been a beloved teacher to many, and a brilliant mathematician, but she was rather lacking in maternal instincts.

-BD-

"Invisibility is a sniper's greatest strength. If he starts to worry about losing it, his heart rate increases. If he doesn't know how to handle that, his breathing rhythm gets thrown off."

Charlie could hear the words, but didn't really comprehend them. After all, Edgerton was standing so close behind her that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She could feel her own heart rate speed up, as her eyes fell shut and his half-whispered words washed over her. He had the most amazing voice.

It was then that she noticed it. Edgerton's breathing was slightly off as well. Was the proximity unnerving him, too? Forcing her eyes back open, Charlie looked down and saw Don looking around. He was probably looking for her. She bit back a sigh and stepped away from the window, lightly brushing against Edgerton as she did.

Just for a moment, she was certain that she heard a hitch in his breathing, and allowed herself to think that she was affecting him just as much as he affected her.

-BD-

That night, Charlie was trying to concentrate on both her calculations and her closest friend. It was no easy task, even at the best of times. Now, though, it was even harder, as the only thing that kept running through her mind was Edgerton.

"You know, at times like these," Larry commented as he set down a glass of cola in front of Charlie, "an empty house is not a home." He paused as she sent him a sympathetic look. "I've been evaluating my immediate prospects for a conventional nuclear family. I've just now begun to consider adoption."

"How long have you been considering that?"

"Three days."

"Give it a few more days," Charlie stifled a laugh.

"Yeah," Larry ran his hands over his face, and Charlie gave him a tender smile.

"Tell you what," she suggested. "Think about it for a month, and if you still want kids… we can talk about my threat."

Larry paused, trying to think, then beamed at his protégé. Charlie allowed herself a chuckle, before turning back to her calculations. Truth be told, she did want kids eventually, the timing had just never been right. That, and she had yet to meet a man she would like to start a family with. As sad as it was, her friendship with Larry was the most stable relationship she'd ever had. The most stable, and the longest lasting.

The pair turned back to the case, and after a few comments, Larry pointed out that she needed to 'insert a human element'.

"You sound like this Agent Edgerton guy," Charlie muttered, hoping that Larry wouldn't notice how she smiled when she said his name.

"Agent Edgerton?" Larry queried. He hadn't heart that name before – and didn't miss the small smile.

"He's a sniper instructor that Don brought in from Quantico. He thinks I should be out shooting rifles."

"Well why aren't you?" Larry exclaimed.

"It's… it's a poor allocation of my time," Charlie protested, grabbing at the first thing that came to mind. "In the time it takes to shoot X amount of bullets, I can access ten, twenty, or a hundred times that amount of data."

"No, no, no, no," Larry shook his head, a twinkle firmly in his eye. She was protesting far too much. "There's data, and there's hands on experience, these are two different beasts. That's why you have blackboards, and laboratories."

"You study the universe," Charlie pointed out, "and yet you've never been to outer space."

"Yeah, but if I had the opportunity, do you think for a moment that I'd hesitate?" The professor asked wistfully. There was silence for a moment, before he continued. "And anyway, it would give you more time with your sniper instructor."

"What?" Charlie spluttered. "That's not an incentive!"

"Really?" Larry smiled knowingly. "I think it's more of an incentive than you're willing to admit."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Charlie muttered as she turned back to her pads, and Larry laughed before deciding to drop the subject.

-BD-

"The weight of the gun, the noise of the shot, the effect of the recoil, there's no way I have of understanding that, because I don't know what it is to shoot a gun!"

"Exactly! Which is why I brought him in to begin with!"

Ian watched as Don stormed out of the room, apparently unaware that the noise of the argument had carried out into the bull-pen. He was impressed that the professor had realised what she didn't know and was trying to understand sniping, though he was a little curious as to why Don refused to let her try her hand at shooting. After all, it wasn't like she wanted to learn hand-to-hand combat or knife-fighting. Shooting a rifle at a paper target with a proper instructor present was perfectly safe.

Mulling it over, Ian stepped into the room where Charlie was leaning against the white-board, arms folded across her chest and glaring at the floor. He allowed himself a smirk – she really was adorable when she was cross.

"Hey there, Professor," he greeted her, smirk still in place as she jumped a little. "Couldn't help overhearing. Nice to know you can admit your shortcomings."

"Yeah, well," Charlie blushed a little. "As Larry said, there's data and there's hands-on experience. If I want to fully understand the data, I need to have the experience. Only Don doesn't seem to see it that way." She sounded so put out that Ian chuckled.

"Quite right," Ian nodded as he stepped up close, invading her personal space again. Charlie looked up at him, seeming to consider something, then smiled sweetly. Immediately, Ian was on alert, knowing that something was coming.

"You think I could use the experience too, don't you?"

"Absolutely," he agreed warily. He had an idea of where this was headed.

"So… will you teach me how to shoot?"

"Hmm…" Ian narrowed his eyes at her. "Won't Don disapprove?"

Charlie leaned up to whisper in his ear, and Ian suppressed a shudder as her breath tickled his neck.

"Who says that Don needs to know everything?"

She pulled away, and her smirk was mirrored on him. She was right, Ian nodded. Don didn't need to know everything.

"Well then," he half-whispered, enjoying the effect that it seemed to have on Charlie. "I guess we're headed off to the rifle range."

-BD-

"You don't need to flinch, you know," Ian bit back a laugh. "It's the other end that's dangerous."

"I know that," Charlie rolled her eyes. "It's just… I don't like loud noises. They've always bothered me."

"Fair enough," Ian shrugged before kneeling behind her. "Here, adjust your grip a little. Like this." He re-positioned her hand on the rifle, letting his touch linger a little. "Now try again."

There was something oddly calming about the way Ian was knelt behind her, Charlie thought to herself. It was as if he was waiting, ready to catch her if she jumped again. She let out a breath, drawing on the calmness, and fired. This time, at least, she hit the target.

"Good," Ian whispered, his mouth right next to her ear. "Reload and try again." His left hand was resting on her leg, and Charlie swallowed hard before speaking.

"Are we here to shoot or flirt?" She hated how husky her voice was, though Ian didn't seem to mind.

"We can't do both?" He asked, a smirk evident in his voice.

Charlie turned to look at him, then leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She pulled away after a moment and gave him a smirk of her own, before giving her attention back to the gun.

"One thing at a time," she whispered.

"Fair enough," Ian agreed, and went back to teaching. Though now, he kept his arms wrapped around her waist. It was clear that he wasn't letting go any time soon.

-BD-

The next morning, Alan looked up in surprise as his daughter let herself into the house. He was in the middle of making breakfast, having thought that she was asleep upstairs.

"Morning, Dad," Charlie grinned at him, and Alan couldn't help feeling a little optimistic. Her lips were swollen, clothes more rumpled than usual, hair mussed, and a dopey grin was firmly on her face.

"You had sex," he commented, then waited as Charlie choked on her orange juice.

"Dad!" She spluttered. "What sort of a thing is that to say to your daughter?"

"A true statement," Alan said matter-of-factly. "You did. So, am I going to have a son-in-law any time soon?"

"I doubt it," Charlie said wryly. "He's… not the sort to settle down."

"Oh. So he's practise?"

"Dad!"

"What?" Alan asked, hiding a grin. Charlie looked mortified.

"I am not discussing my sex life with you. Just… no." With that, she turned and ran up the stairs to shower and escape her father's embarrassing questions.

-BD-

A few days later, it was all over. Charlie stood outside the hotel Edgerton had been staying at. She'd been thinking about what to say to him, but still wasn't sure. She sighed and leaned against his truck, waiting. After a while, the sniper himself appeared, bag in hand. He stopped in front of her and dropped the bag to the ground. He waited for her to initiate the conversation.

"Back to Quantico?" Charlie asked softly, and Ian nodded.

"I got classes to teach. Jobs to do. You know how it is." He sounded a little reluctant, and Charlie smiled. Sure, they'd agreed that it was a one-off fling, but maybe… maybe he did care.

"Well," she squared her shoulders and looked up at him, still smiling, "if you're ever in town again, swing by the house. You're welcome any time."

Edgerton looked a little surprised, then smiled back.

"I'll hold you to that. And if you're ever near Quantico, look me up." He handed her a card with his personal details on it, which Charlie pocketed.

"Will do," she nodded, then relaxed as he wrapped his arms around her and claimed a goodbye kiss. Before they could get carried away, he reluctantly released her, and Charlie turned to head back home.

It was better this way, she told herself. It was like she'd told Alan – he wasn't the sort to settle down with a family.

Now if she could just get her heart to accept it.

-BD-

Ian hummed along with the radio on the drive back home. He was already planning for the next time he would see his lovely professor. After all, it wasn't every day that he found a woman who he could argue heatedly with one minute, and have amazing sex with the next.

If anyone could convince him to settle down… he had a feeling it would be Professor Charlotte Eppes.

As long as he could convince Don not to shoot him for it.

-BD-

A/N: For the record, the votes currently stand at four each for CC and CE. It's going to be interesting seeing who likes where this is headed.


	7. Chapter 05: A Long Buried Grudge

Review responses:

anti scarlett the harlett: "Like the plot."  
Wait… this has a plot? *looks astonished* Zillah! Why didn't you tell me you caught a plot when you caught my muse?

In all seriousness (which isn't much), the main plot has only just started – everything else was kinda setting up the universe.

Angel*Eyes: "I love Ian, he is just made of awesome"  
Yes. Yes he is.

Current tally: CC 7, CE 6. This doesn't necessarily mean anything, since I know what's going to happen, but it may influence how things turn out in the end. Maybe.

A/N: This chapter is just… wow. It was meant to be something light and funny, and instead… Charlie took hold of the pen and drama came out. Now you have the explanation of why Charlie and Don were angry at each other for so long in this verse.

Chapter Five: A Long-buried Grudge. In which Charlie and Don fight, and Charlie reveals more than she meant to.

-BD-

"My hope for grandchildren has been rekindled," Alan grinned at his eldest. Don rolled his eyes, trying to hide how much saying goodbye to the kid actually affected him.

"Don't start, Dad," he attempted to cut him off, but Alan wouldn't be swayed.

"I'm not making a formal request, I'm simply saying that it would be nice."

"Dad," Charlie grinned impudently at them, "you do realise how long the odds actually are for this man, right?"

"Charlie!" Don protested. "I thought you, at least, would back me up on this!"

"I know, but given your dating patterns… or lack of dating patterns… I think it's gonna be a long time before Dad gets his wish from you."

"Like you're one to talk," Don mock-scowled at her. "When's the last time you had a date?"

"About a month ago," Alan spoke up, surprising them both.

"Wait, a month ago?" Don looked from Charlie, who had gone red, to their father, who looked pleased with himself. "Charlie, you never told me about this! Who was he? Did he try anything inappropriate? Are you still seeing him?"

"Nice going, Dad," Charlie muttered as the barrage of questions started.

Alan smiled to himself and leaned back against the wall to listen in. Charlie had been quite close-mouthed about her night out, and despite his urging for grandchildren, Alan was a little concerned. He didn't want his daughter to get hurt, after all. His questions had all been deftly avoided, but he knew that Don would get the truth out of her.

"C'mon, Charlie," Don crossed his arms and fixed her with a stern gaze. "Spill, so I can go hunt him down."

"And this is exactly why I didn't tell you," Charlie glared back defiantly. "You always interrogate my boyfriends and scare them away. That, or actually beat them up."

"Hey now," Don protested, "I've never beaten up one of your boyfriends."

"Mikey Tolson," Charlie shot back. "Although you're right, he wasn't actually my boyfriend." Don pulled a face.

"He was a creep who never should have gone near you."

"He was my date for the prom, and you broke his arm!"

"You were thirteen!" Don pointed out angrily, oblivious to the fact that they were now shouting about their past, in front of an airport. "He was nineteen! There was no way I was going to stand back and let him touch you."

"It wasn't your decision to make!" Charlie spat back. "And for your information, he was more interested in you than in me!"

Both siblings froze as they realised what Charlie had just said. Charlie sighed and hung her head, chewing on her lower lip in consternation. Don looked as though someone had punched him in the gut. After a few false starts, he managed to speak.

"Mikey was… was a…"

"Homosexual?" Charlie offered. "Yeah. And he'd been crushing on you for about three years at that point. I knew about it, and knew that he was one of the boys at school I could absolutely trust not to touch me. He knew that I would have no expectations of him, so he asked me to the prom, and I agreed. We were jest gonna go listen to the music, do some people-watching for a while, then head home and watch a movie or two. But instead, you attacked him without letting him explain himself, and broke his arm. Which, aside from everything else, meant that I missed my own prom, since I had no friends that would be there."

Charlie waited a moment, but when Don didn't say anything, she turned and left. By the time Don came to his senses, she had already climbed into a taxi and was driving away. He stared dumbly at the retreating cab, until he felt a warm arm around his shoulders. Turning, he let his father wrap him in a gruff hug.

"I'm such an idiot," he whispered.

Alan could think of nothing to say to that.


	8. Interlude Two: Points Of View

Thanks for all the comments guys, here's another little interlude before things heat up again. In the next chapter, Charlie and Colby meet. What fun! In the tally, we're currently at eight votes all – with a couple of interesting suggestions on the side.

Also, the lovely Jadvisioness is currently helping to beta the sequel to Sniping Equations. I know, I know, another WIP… but at least there's someone with my email address to berate me if I don't update it, and I actually have a plan for that one. Rather than this, which is more along the lines of 'what shall I torture them all with this week?' First chapter should be up in a few days – look out for No Shooting In The House.

Interlude Two: Points of View. The fallout from 'the boyfriend argument', as seen from four different perspectives.

-BD-

Alan sighed as he struggled with his crossword. Don sat nearby on the couch, watching the TV, while Charlie was at the table behind them, working on something. Things were finally getting back to normal. For about two weeks after the fight at the airport, Don and Charlie had tip-toed around each other, not entirely sure how to act. Then Don had a case that needed Charlie's maths, and the two had come to some sort of arrangement where neither would mention their argument, or the circumstances leading up to it. Alan was pretty sure that Charlie still hadn't mentioned who it was she'd been seeing, but as she hadn't seen him again, it didn't really matter anymore.

Don stole a glance at his little sister, apparently happily engrossed in her work, and once again kicked himself for allowing his temper to get the better of him. There was just something about Charlie that made him so much more liable to lose control. He guessed that Megan, his new partner, was probably right in her assessment – he'd never grown past the stage where he had to protect Charlie from the bullies at school. Turning back to the TV, he tried to concentrate on the game. Now if he could just remember who was playing what.

Charlie glanced over at Don and stifled a frustrated groan. Things had been going so well, and then Don had to go and ruin it by being his normal over-protective, aggressive self. Not that she was at all to blame for losing her temper as well… okay she could have handled the fight better. It was just so hard, trying have a love life when Don always found a way of messing things up. Though that wasn't really fair either – she'd messed up just fine on her own before he'd come back from New Mexico. She turned back to her work, biting back a frustrated growl. Why couldn't things work out how they were meant to, just once?

And from her perch in Heaven, Margaret wanted to reach down and smack all three of them around the head. Honestly – how could one family be so dense?


	9. Chapter 06: Don't Fear the Lightning

A/N: So from the complete lack of response to the interlude, I take it people weren't fond of it. I hope this chapter brings people back.

Chapter Six: Don't Fear The Lightning. In which The Jock and The Geek cross paths.

-BD-

"And this is Charlie's lecture room," David grinned as he showed his new partner around the office.

"Charlie?" Agent Colby Granger raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Charlie. Officially Dr Charlotte Eppes, Bureau Consultant and Professor of Applied Mathematics, but she doesn't really care much for official titles."

"Right," Colby didn't look convinced. "A math consultant has a lecture room here."

"Well, it's not really her room. It's just where she usually explains her methods to us all. She's a bona-fide genius. Her processes and formulae have already solved over a dozen cases for us – and she's been known to help out other government agencies from time to time," David enthused about the office's favourite mathematician. "And having her around is great for entertainment."

"What do you mean?" Colby was confused. "Surely a math consultant isn't that interesting."

"You haven't seen her fight with Don," David winked conspiratorially. "Agent Eppes is her older brother. And having the pair of them working a case together means that fireworks will ensue at some point."

Colby still looked sceptical – until the breath was knocked out of him as someone ran into him, then proceeded to talk at a mile a minute.

"Whoa! Sorry about that, gotta find – David! Yes! Found you. I think I've narrowed the field enough. Here's the most likely candidate. Gotta go find Don now, bye!"

With that, the whirlwind ran off again. Colby stood blinking while David fought back a smile.

"And that, Granger, was Charlie. Don't worry, you'll get used to her."

Colby kept staring in the direction Charlie had run off in, while David examined the file that had been thrust at him. She was nothing like what he'd imagined. A little shorter than himself, long black hair in a messy braid, wearing jeans, a t-shirt and ratty sneakers, she was a far cry from the stuffy, suited professional his mind had conjured up. She was cute, too.

"Earth to Granger!" David waved a hand in front of his face, and Colby blinked. "Come on, we gotta go interview this guy."

"Yeah, sure," Colby nodded and followed his new partner to the lift.

"Oh, and Granger?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't let Don catch you checking out his sister. Your body will never be found."

The new agent started to laugh, then paused. David looked completely serious.

_Guess I'll have to keep my eyes off her,_ he thought to himself. _Pity. I'd have liked to get to know her better._

-BD-

"So, Donnie," Charlie started, and Don groaned. He knew that tone of voice. It meant that she wasn't going to help him until he gave her something.

"What is it this time?" He asked, resigned.

"Who was that cute guy David was talking to earlier?"

Don paused and looked at Charlie, pure horror on his face.

"No, Charlie! No! Please, tell me you're not serious about this!"

"Oh come on," Charlie rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm planning on doing him in the middle of the office, I just want to know who he is."

"I really didn't need that image," Don muttered as he stared at the top of his desk, willing the mental picture to leave. Charlie's laugh wasn't helping matters.

"Well? Who is he?"

"Colby Granger," Don sighed. "David's new partner."

"Awww," Charlie pouted. "He works for you? That means he's off limits, doesn't it."

"Yes," Don nodded emphatically. "He is most definitely out of bounds."

"Okay… can I look if I promise not to touch?" At her wounded-puppy look, Don finally cracked a smile.

"Okay. I guess there's no harm in looking."

"Thanks Donnie!" Charlie smiled and handed over the file she'd been holding. "I'm headed back to CalSci. You coming by for dinner tonight?"

"Sure," Don nodded absently as his sister headed out, already immersing himself back in his work.

-BD-

To Don's delight, Charlie seemed to be keeping her promise. She didn't flirt with Colby, and he didn't seem to be interested in her outside of her usefulness to the bureau. Everything was going smoothly.

Which meant, naturally, that things were about to go horribly wrong for Don.

It was a Friday evening, and Don was just about pulling his hair out in frustration. He and Megan had caught a case that would probably keep them all night. Normally it wouldn't bother him – but tonight Charlie has asked him to come along to one of her math events. After the first one he'd accompanied her to, it had become something of a tradition, and this would be the first one he'd have to miss.

Don growled in frustration as he saw Charlie step out of the lift. She was all dressed up in a long black dress, hair styled and make-up perfect. He hated the fact that he'd have to disappoint her and send her on her own.

One look at Don's desk was enough to wipe the smile from Charlie's face. With that amount of paperwork, there was no way he was getting out in time to go with her. Before he could apologise, she shrugged it off.

"Guess I'm going solo tonight, huh?"

"I'm really sorry." Don looked so pitiful that Charlie instantly forgave him. "You know I'd go if I could, but this can't wait."

"I understand," Charlie nodded, though she still looked disappointed. "Max and Arnold will be there… probably. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"What's up?" David asked as he arrived at the desk-nest. "You got another fancy dinner?" The office had mostly gotten used to Charlie turning up like this, just as everyone had grown accustomed to her everyday haphazard appearance. Colby, however, was staring at Charlie as though he'd never seen her before. Don noticed, and bit back a groan.

"Yeah," Charlie nodded, oblivious to Don's concerns. "And Don's caught a case, so he can't come with me." She paused, then smiled brightly. "You got any plans tonight?"

"What would accompanying you involve?" David asked warily. He actually did have plans already – but knew that Colby was free.

"Well, usually there's a load of sports-talk with Max and Arnold," Charlie grinned, "followed by several rounds of insults as everyone else gives their speeches."

"Then you have to distract Charlie when she does her thing," Don instructed gleefully. He was happy if David could escort her, since he knew that there was no risk of the two doing anything inappropriate. "And either arrest or shoot anyone who tries to grope her."

"And somewhere in there is a pretty decent meal and some really nice wine," Charlie finished. David grinned and shook his head.

"As fun as that sounds, I can't. My sister's in town, I'm taking her out." He turned to his partner and winked, though he didn't let either Eppes see it. "Hey Colby, you got anything on tonight?"

Colby blinked, then shrugged, throwing David a thankful grin.

"Nothing important. What do you say, Whiz-Kid? Think I can fill in for the evening?"

"Okay," Charlie smiled at him. "At least you're wearing a suit already."

As the two headed for the elevator, talking amiably, Don sighed.

"I guess that's the end of 'look, don't touch'." He then turned a glare on David, though it lacked any real heat. David just rolled his eyes at his boss.

"Face it Don, they were going to get together no matter what you did. And this way, they might actually have a relationship, instead of the attraction building up and making them do something stupid that would leave everyone feeling awkward."

Don looked down at his desk, resigned.

"You may have a point there."

"Thanks." David looked a little smug.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it though."

"Of course not," David chuckled. "Oh, and I've already given him the 'don't you dare hurt her' speech." At Don's incredulous look, he gave an uncomfortable shrug. "Charlie's my friend too. I want her to be happy."

"Y'know," Don said contemplatively, "just for that, maybe I won't fire you for setting them up."

"Thank you so very much."

-BD-

"So where's Don?" Max asked, looking very put out. "You know I only come to these things to have an intelligent conversation with him."

"Sorry Max," Charlie laughed. "He caught a case and couldn't get away. So he sent in a substitute."

"Good evening Professor, Doctor," Colby nodded as he shook hands with Charlie's friends.

"Strong grip," Arnold commented. "Polite too."

"Know anything about baseball?" Max asked.

"A little," Colby admitted. "Basketball's more my thing."

"Fair enough," Max nodded. "I like him, Charlie. Keep him."

"Okay," Charlie laughed. "Oh, there's Dr Reardon. I need to ask him about his new study."

"You go ahead m'dear," Arnold assured her. "We'll keep your young man entertained."

Colby spent several minutes chatting amicably to the aging men, until Arnold looked over to where Charlie was and swore.

"Damnit. Max, is that who I think it is?"

The other two men turned to look, and Max nodded glumly.

"What? Who is she?" Colby asked. Charlie was being talked at by a stunning woman who looked to be in her mid twenties. Charlie looked like she was trapped.

"Annabelle Wynters," Max muttered with a surprising amount of venom. "Her husband is Dean of Mathematics at Harvard, and she likes nothing more than making our Charlie feel inadequate, just because she's not married yet."

"She's just jealous," Arnold glared at the woman in question. "By that age, Charlie already had two doctorates and had studied at three major universities across the globe. Annabelle still hasn't finished her first graduate degree."

"I think I'd best go rescue her," Colby said and excused himself. Charlie was starting to look murderous, which was actually quite amusing for Colby to see. He stepped up to them just in time to hear Annabelle talking about marriage.

"See, you've left it too late, my dear. You'll find it ever so difficult to catch a husband now, since you've spent so many years with just your quaint chalk boards."

"Actually–" Charlie started to protest, eyes flashing angrily, when Colby stepped in.

"There you are, Darling," he smiled as he wrapped an arm around her waist. As she looked up in surprise, he winked back. "As much as I love your friends, they're really no substitute for you."

"And who is this?" Annabelle asked, hands on her hips, looking highly affronted.

"So sorry," Colby grinned charmingly at her. "Colby Granger. Charlie's fiancé."

"Fiancé?" Annabelle looked shocked. Charlie fought to keep the confusion off her own face. "You didn't mention you were getting married," the younger woman sounded petulant. "Where's your ring, then?"

"Well," Charlie started guiltily, but was cut off by a long-suffering sigh from her 'fiancé'.

"You lost it again, didn't you?"

"I didn't lose it!" Charlie exclaimed indignantly, before smiling again. "I just can't find it. There's a difference."

"What am I going to do with you?" Colby asked before kissing her cheek. Annabelle chose that moment to turn and walk off in a huff. Charlie watched her go, before turning back to Colby.

"You do realise that you're going to have to keep this up all night, right?"

"Yeah," Colby brought up his free hand, so that he was holding her in a loose embrace. "I have no problem with that." Charlie's beaming smile was all the encouragement he needed to lower his head and kiss her thoroughly.

By the end of the evening, the entire room was convinced that Colby and Charlie were in love – and they were feeling quite sure of it as well.


	10. Chapter 07: Discussions and Epiphanies

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys, I'm not entirely sure what happened. But the next chapter is half-written, and the next chapter of NSITH is with the beta, so we're back in business.

Review responses:

Little Miss Stilletto: In about… four or five chapters. There's something else coming first, but the showdown will be spectacular. Maybe. I hope, anyway.

I Keep Goldfish In My Bra: Don is one of my favourite characters to write. I'm glad you like my version of him too.

Jenny: I think it was because I was reading some very good CC fics when I started this. And then I realised… my ex is called Colby. And has some similar qualities. Put me right off CC, hence why I struggled with this chapter a bit.

Louisa, AuthorWhoHasntWrittenInYears: Yes, I have made up my mind… but there may be some switches mid-plot. You'll have to keep reading to see who she ends up with in the end.

Helena: Fireworks. And possibly gunfire.

Robertaa: Can't do that episode, since I haven't seen season 3. Sorry. As for the other, something similar will happen, but not exactly like that. The plot-bunnies have overruled your request.

Goddess of the Black Rose: Not the kick in the pants Ian needs… but this chapter gives Charlie a bit of a kicking.

Mjels: You'll just have to read and find out, won't you? ;P

To the rest of you: Thanks for taking the time to review. It does feed the plotbunnies, I promise.

-BDBD-

Chapter Seven: Discussions and Epiphanies. In which several people come to various conclusions.

"Charlotte, can I pick your brains for a minute?"

"Sorry Larry," Charlie called over her shoulder as she hurried toward her office. "I'm running late. I'll find you after class, okay?"

"Very well," Larry nodded, though his young friend was already gone. He sighed and returned to his own office, where a concerned Amit was sitting.

"You were correct," Larry confirmed Amit's suspicions. "She barely paused to acknowledge me."

"I've been doing what I can," Amit shrugged helplessly, "but sooner or later her students are going to realise that she's not doing lesson plans or writing the quizzes herself any more. It's as though she doesn't really care about teaching these days."

"Yet teaching has always been something of a passion for her," Larry mused. "Still, I doubt that she would appreciate us pointing this out to her."

"Yeah, she'd probably say we were meddling," Amit looked glum. "What can we do though?"

"Nothing," Larry said firmly. "In all likelihood, Charlotte is merely readjusting her existence to incorporate Agent Granger. Given time, I'm sure that she will regain her equilibrium."

Amit looked doubtful, but nodded his agreement.

-BDBD-

"Charlie, will you be home for dinner? I've got a casserole in the crock-pot."

"Sorry Dad," Charlie spoke into the phone ruefully. "I've got plans with Colby, then I really need to do some work for my classes."

"You've been spending a lot of time with Colby lately," Alan said hopefully. "Are things getting serious? Are you using protection?"

"Dad!" Charlie shouted, mortified.

"What? I'm just making sure my little girl is being taken care of. I want grandkids, but I'd rather them be born into a family, not have you left to raise them by yourself."

There was a pause for a few seconds, before Charlie answered.

"Yes, we're using protection. And yeah, things could be getting serious."

"That's good," Alan smiled, but something about her tone bothered him. He pushed it aside for now. "Say, why don't you bring him around for dinner tomorrow? Donnie's coming too, we could make it a whole family thing!"

"…Yeah, sure Dad. Listen, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure, bye!"

They hung up, and then Alan realised what was bothering him. Charlie hadn't reassured him that she was being taken care of.

-BDBD-

"Charlie, c'mon, you're the best decrypter we've got!" Don pleaded. "Just take a look at it?"

"Don, I just finished the last problem you gave me, I need to write midterms, and I've got plans tonight. I can't help on another case right now."

"Please, Baby-doll?" He shamelessly begged, knowing she couldn't refuse him for long. "It won't take you long, you know how good you are at these things."

"I can't! I've got too much on right now, I can't keep up with it all!"

"Of course you can, Charlie," Don waved a hand dismissively. "Math is your passion, you've always got time for more." At the slightly mutinous look in his sister's eyes, Don realised he'd overstepped the bounds and changed tactics. "Look, this guy's already killed twice, if we crack the code in the notes it could help us catch him before someone else dies!"

Charlie sighed and hung her head. He'd won, and they both knew it.

"Here, I'll just leave it on your desk. Look it over and let me know if something jumps out at you."

"Fine," Charlie sighed again, resigned.

"Great! I'll tell the guys you're on it, and I'll see you at dinner tomorrow if not before."

"Yeah, sure," Charlie muttered as Don left. She rubbed a tired hand over her eyes, knowing that she really didn't have time right now.

After wrestling with her conscience for a minute, the mathematician carefully placed the note with the papers she was taking him to work on, and headed to the car park to wait for Colby.

-BDBD-

"Charlie, napkins are for wiping your mouth, not writing on," Colby lightly admonished his girlfriend. Charlie gave him a small smile.

"Well you don't have any chalkboards, so I improvised."

"You shouldn't need to write things down while we're eating." The reprimand was followed by a small frown, and Charlie was immediately on the defensive.

"I can't help it," she muttered. "If I don't get my thoughts down now I won't be able to get them back later."

"What does it matter?" Colby started getting angry as well. "You're not working on a case, it's just scribbles."

"Just scribbles?" Charlie's voice went soft. If Don had been there he would have hit the deck, recognising it as a sign of imminent explosion. Colby, however, hadn't learned Charlie's warning signs yet.

"Well, maybe not scribbles," the agent shrugged, thinking that she was just upset about his phraseology. "But it's nothing important. Just forget about it, focus on the food."

"Yeah, forget about it," Charlie snapped. "Like I can just turn off the numbers, right?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Colby sighed. "Just that you should concentrate on something other than the math for a while."

Charlie levelled a glare at him. Had the man not listened to her when they first started dating? She'd tried to explain the way her mind worked, how she saw the world in numbers and equations, and that there were times when her 'gift' made it difficult to interact with the world. But apparently, he'd had other things on his mind then.

Abruptly, Charlie laid down her pen and fork before standing. Colby quickly did the same, trying to calm her down.

"Look, forget about dinner. How about we just go to bed?" He reached out to run his hand down Charlie's arm, before she stepped away.

"Can't. I have work to finish." She turned and grabbed her backpack before heading to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Charlie…"

"Tomorrow."

Out on the pavement, Charlie sighed. She'd always wanted a relationship like other people, and had really thought that maybe Colby was the one. The ore she thought about it, however, the more confused she became. He had most of the traits she'd always thought that her ideal partner would have, but at the same time he was missing the big one – the ability to understand her thoughts. He was also convenient and willing… but was that really any basis for a lasting commitment?

The professor glanced at her watch and groaned. It was late, and she didn't have a car. If she called her father or brother to pick her up, there would be endless questions, which Charlie really didn't feel like answering right now. Her head was too messed up and fluffy.

She smiled finally as she pulled out her cell to call someone who was just as scatter-minded as she was.

"Hey."

"Charlotte! To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I need a ride. Can you come and get me?"

"Of course. I was just about to head to the computer lab, would you care to join me?"

"Sure, and thanks."

-BDBD-

Charlie didn't get much sleep that night. After helping Larry with some calculations for his Super-Gravity theory for several hours, the two retired to the lawn for some star-gazing. She eventually felt secure enough to pour out her thoughts to her oldest friend, who listened without comment. When the flow of words ended, Larry continued to watch the heavens for a few minutes before speaking.

"You know, some people believe that love is an absolute. That once you love someone, you belong to them for the rest of your life, and there's no way of escaping that. These are usually the same people who believe in love at first sight."

"And what do you believe?"

"I believe that our hearts change as we grow, and the love is fluid. There's no guarantee that the person you love one day will be the person you love the next." He paused for a moment, weighing his words, before continuing. "I also believe that one shouldn't confuse physical pleasure with romantic love. They are compatible, yes, but not guaranteed to be inclusive."

Silence temporarily reigned again while Charlie gathered her thoughts.

"You think that all I have with Colby is lust?"

"No, no," Larry held up a hand. "I never said that. I was merely speculating about the fact that whilst you are quite brilliant when it comes to logic, when it comes to the realm of feelings… you can get a little lost. You're not accustomed to dealing with emotions and as a result, you may be confusing physical attraction and compatibility for lasting love."

Charlie considered this perspective. As much as she hated to admit it, Larry had a point. As usual.

"So what do you suggest I do about it?"

"Oh no," Larry shook his head. "This is for you to figure out. I'm merely a sounding board. It's your life."

"I think…" Charlie started then paused for a moment. "I think that I sorta… latched on to Colby as a knight in shining armour. I like him a lot, he's fun to spend time with, but… I can't see myself staying with someone who had so much trouble understanding how important the numbers are to how I think."

"And?" Larry prompted when Charlie fell silent.

"And I can't lead him on. I'll tell him that it's time to call it quits."

"That's my girl."

The pair of eccentric professors stayed exactly where they were, watching and chattering, for some time. They were woken the next morning by the sprinkler system and both groaned, knowing that they were far too old for this sort of thing anymore.


	11. Chapter 08: Runaway

AuthorWhoHasntWrittenInYears: Hee, your enthusiasm is gratifying. And yeah, Colby's a little OOC in here – he just isn't cooperating with me. I figure, though, that since I've swapped Charlie's gender, people can deal with a bit of weirdness from the rest of the cast.

Mjels: Thanks for reviewing so much! Is very comforting to know I've kept your interest through everything.

I Keep Goldfish In My Bra: Yeah, I figured it would make for an auspicious start to the day. Oh, and I love your screen name. I keep my discman in mine.

Helena: Ian/Charlie is my first love. I dabbled here with CC, but it can't last.

Robertaa: I can say that Ian will be returning to LA at some point in the future, yes. The circumstances surrounding it, however, I'm not revealing yet.

-BDBD-

Chapter Eight: Runaway. In which Charlie is spooked.

Later that evening, Larry gave Charlie a ride home, lecturing her on how she shouldn't pull all-nighters any more. Charlie wondered when she'd gotten an extra father. They immediately headed for the garage to finalise some thoughts that they'd begun in the early hours of the morning, and ignored the bustle that could be heard from the kitchen. Somewhere in the back of her head, Charlie could remember Alan saying something about a dinner party, but the garage was much more interesting.

Especially when Amit joined them, looking slightly panicked.

"What's up?" Charlie asked, curious. The young man frowned, seeming to debate whether or not to tell her something.

"How… how serious are you about Colby?"

That wasn't what she'd expected to hear. Charlie shared a look with Larry before answering.

"Not very. I'm going to call it off. Why?"

Now Amit looked even worse.

"I know I should keep out of this, but I remember how much you hate surprises. Uh, has Colby mentioned marriage at all?"

Charlie dropped the piece of chalk she'd been holding while Larry put a hand over his mouth in shock. Amit quite obviously wished that he was somewhere else.

"But… I told him…" Charlie whispered. "I told him that I wasn't looking to get married yet. He agreed with me! Why would he…" She looked around, eyes darting to the various exits and breathing hard. Larry was quickly by her side.

"Breathe, Charlotte! Breathe. You're panicking. Just concentrate on my voice, and your breathing."

Soon enough, the maths professor had calmed enough to think about the situation. She turned back to Amit, who readied himself for an interrogation.

"Let's think about this logically. He told you that he wants to marry me?"

"He was talking to Don and Alan, about his plan to propose later tonight, and something about proving to you that he wants to stay with you."

"That sounds like him," Charlie muttered. "Rushing in without thinking the plan through, thinking that one big gesture will make everything okay. No matter that I told him I don't want a wedding!" She turned and slammed her fist against the blackboard.

Behind her, Larry worried his lower lip, recognising Charlie moving into fight or flight mode. He knew that she'd never been particularly good at facing her problems, but if she ran now it could make things worse.

After a moment of stillness, Charlie moved over to where her things were and sat down. She pulled some paper and a pen out of her backpack and set about writing a letter. It took several minutes, but eventually she sighed, signed her name and stood again, looking at her assistant.

"Amit, could you give this to Colby please? I can't… I need to get out of here. It's just too much."

"Sure thing," Amit nodded and took the folded paper. "Will you be okay for classes tomorrow?"

"I don't think so," Charlie said softly. "I think I need to spend some time on my own. Away from LA. It's too… crowded here."

"Oh…" Amit and Larry looked helplessly at each other. Sure Charlie preferred running from her problems to facing them, but this was a little extreme.

"Charlie," Amit tried, "I can cover for a few days, but you're the professor. The students come to learn from you. You can't disappear halfway through the term."

"I don't care," came the answer, shocking both men. "I've been trying, but I can't handle it all. Consulting for Don, teaching, my own work, trying to have a personal life… something has to give. I'll call the Dean and ask for a sabbatical. I need to focus on my private life and my own work for a while. Then I can start adding other things again."

Larry nodded slowly. While most people wouldn't understand why Charlie was so stressed, he could. Both of them had only ever inhabited the world of academia. True, her work with Don had shown Charlie what the real world was like, but that didn't mean that she was prepared to face it.

"Do you need me to take you somewhere?" Larry asked, realising Charlie's need to run had won out over all her other instincts.

"Yeah," she nodded, giving him a grateful smile. "The bus station. I'll figure out where I'm going from there. I'll also call Dad… Amit, could you stay here? Give Colby the letter when I call."

-BDBD-

Alan knew that something was wrong.

Amit had come in from the garage ten minutes before, looking too cheerful. Or maybe not too cheerful, but it was the wrong sort of happiness, as though it was a mask for something.

He was certain that none of the agents present had noticed – after all, they didn't work with the young man often – but Alan was sure. He also had a fair idea that it was something to do with his daughter, given the way Amit seemed to avoid talking to Colby or Don.

Figuring that someone would tell him what was going on sooner or later, Alan sighed and went back to preparing dinner. It was nearly ready, even with the addition of the extra guests David, Megan, Larry and Amit. Another fifteen, maybe twenty minutes and all would be set.

Eventually it was all cooked and ready to go out on the table. Alan was just about to call Charlie and Larry in from the garage when the phone rang. He casually snagged it on his way past.

"Eppes house," he answered cheerfully.

"Uh, hey Dad…"

"Charlie?" Alan asked, puzzled. Around him, conversations halted as the agents picked up on his confusion.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Charlie, why are you on the phone? I thought you were in the garage."

Don and Colby were both looking at him with confusion evident on their faces. Then Amit handed a piece of folded paper to Colby, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"I know. Listen, Dad, I have to go away for a bit. I'm not sure when I'll be back, I just need to clear my head and get re-balanced."

"Charlie, sweetheart, you didn't have to leave like this," Alan pleaded, heart pounding. "If you need a holiday, shouldn't you put a little more planning into it?" He could see Colby's face falling as he read the note and passed it to Don, who instead was looking angry.

"Dad, stop panicking." Well, that helped to calm him a little. "I just needed some time by myself. I'll come back, I promise. Just not yet."

"If you're sure. Where are you right now?"

"The bus station… don't tell Donnie."

As though Don could hear that, he snatched the phone away from his father, who winced.

"Charlie, what the hell? You can't just disappear like this, you have responsibilities. You have a boyfriend!" There was a pause for the answer. "I know you've been under pressure, but running away isn't going to fix it!"

-BDBD-

Charlie sighed as Don launched into one of his 'big brother knows best' lectures. She really didn't have time for this.

"Don!" She interrupted loudly, briefly halting the flow of words. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I promise I'll call you later. Promise. Bye."

With that, she hung up the phone and sighed in relief. That was over and done with… now she could leave.

She climbed onto the bus she'd chosen, checking that she still had her wallet and other essentials in her backpack, along with her laptop. Smiling, she realised that she'd have to buy clothes and toiletries when she arrived at her destination, and it didn't bother her. She was doing something different.

She was going to Las Vegas.


	12. Chapter 09: Surprises Abound

AlienaCooper: No, that's not too nasty of you. Though I'm the bitch who broke them up, so I might not be the best judge of these things.

Ddee: Yeah, Ian understands the whole obsession thing, since he's pretty big on the guns. Was there a particular scene that led you to think Don/Charlie? I've never written that before, though I can see the lulz-potential. It would amp up the protectiveness even more.

Robertaa: No CSI crossover, since I don't watch that show. But if you're reading NSITH as well, some of the CSI: Miami crew pop up in that one from time to time.

The rest: Thanks for reviewing, and my apologies for taking so long.

This chapter is for Allieluvsedward, who has bugged me via pm until I updated. Sorry it took a little longer than promised.

-BDBD-

Chapter Nine: Surprises Abound When Cupid's In Town. In which several people think over their life choices.

Charlie collapsed on the bed in her hotel room, exhausted but content. She'd been in Las Vegas for four nights, and was having a blast. Keeping Larry's hints in mind, she was managing to win decent amounts, while not drawing attention to herself. Granted, she'd taken a few losses, but she was doing a little better than breaking even.

_I should call Dad in the morning_, she thought sleepily. Charlie had called him the morning after arriving, but hadn't contacted him since. She'd simply been too busy to find the time, and too contented to risk having a confrontation with Don.

It wasn't happiness, though. This was a nice holiday, but she wasn't fooling herself into believing it could be permanent. There were too many people for her to be completely comfortable, and sooner or later, Charlie knew that she'd have to move on.

Sighing, she rolled off the bed and sat on the floor, thinking over her resources. She'd managed to clear a couple of months off with the Dean, so she had time to get herself sorted out. Staying here, though, wasn't really an option. It was a fairly cheap hotel, but after a couple of weeks it would start to feel like a prison.

What she really needed, she figured, was a place where she could hide for a while, but still have some connection to the real world.

Thinking over her options – and considering returning to England for a while – Charlie pulled herself off the floor and started to get ready for bed.

-BDBD-

Back in LA, Don was spending a lot of time at the batting cages. Every member of his team had tried getting him to come back to himself, to no avail. Colby got snapped at. Megan's attempts were met with silence. David was told, politely but firmly, to take a hike.

At work he was fine. Don seemed able to shut all his worry, anger and disappointment away into a separate compartment which wasn't allowed to open itself when he was working, and then it all came flooding out later.

Even though it wasn't affecting his solve rate, his team was concerned. There just didn't seem to be much that they could do about it.

Then, a week after Charlie ran away, and still hadn't talked directly to her big brother, Amit came to the cages and just sat. He watched until Don flung the bat down in disgust and joined him.

"You gonna start now?" He growled, obviously in a temper.

"Nope," Amit shook his head. "I came to apologise."

"Oh?" Don raised an eyebrow. _This is a new tactic_, he thought as he accepted the bottle of water Amit held out.

"It's my fault that Charlie found out about the whole engagement thing. So if you want to blame me, go ahead."

After thinking about it for a moment, Don sighed and shook his head.

"Nah. If this is how she really feels, the reaction would have been the same if Colby had gotten to propose himself. I've been blaming myself for putting too much pressure on her. I mean, I knew she was busy, but I kept asking for more."

Amit smiled and shook his head.

"You do realise that, technically, Charlie's an adult? If she really couldn't do something, she could have put her foot down and said so. I know she finds that hard to do, but she could have done it."

"Yeah," Don nodded. "I think that's what she's doing now. Putting her foot down and asserting herself."

"So no more blaming yourself, right?"

"Right," The two men shared a smile over the absent professor, then Don glanced at his watch.

"It's getting late. You wanna go for a beer?"

"Sure. And you can tell me more about yourself – I don't really know much about you outside of 'Charlie's Big Brother' and 'Super FBI Agent'."

Don laughed as he gathered his gear. It seemed that Charlie taking off had a silver lining – it was leading to more time spent with someone who had the potential to be a good friend.

-BDBD-

Megan stood in front of her mirror, brushing out her hair and thinking fondly of Charlie's odd friend, Professor Fleinhardt. She'd gone to CalSci the previous day to get him and Amit to help with a case, and had been struck by how… earnest he was. He didn't mind if people thought him odd, he didn't mind if people operated on different intellectual levels to him. He just accepted people as they were and did his best to help them reach their goals.

Larry was sweet, and cute in a professor-type way. And slowly, as she had more encounters with him, Megan found herself falling in love with him.

Sighing, Megan replaced her brush and started to apply her makeup. It was always the same – girls liked the jocks in school, and the geeks once they matured. She finished with her makeup and eyed herself critically, then nodded in satisfaction.

Megan Reeves was a woman who knew what – or who – she wanted. And with this look, she was fairly sure she could get him.

After all, with all the crazies she dealt with on a daily basis, she could do a lot worse than a man who only ate white food.

-BDBD-

"Hey David," Colby started hesitantly. Everyone had been a little stilted towards him since Charlie took off, even his partner, and things were only just starting to go back to normal.

"Yeah?"

"Is something going on between Don and that Amit guy?"

"What?" David looked shocked, then laughed. "No way, man. Don's a ladies' man all the way. Even got engaged once."

"You sure?" Colby asked doubtfully. "Cause from where I'm standing, it sure looks like they're flirting.

At that, David paused and turned to look.

Amit had helped out with a case for the past couple of days, and had stuck around for debriefing. While he was no Charlie, he was still a very intelligent young man. Right now, he was sitting at a table in the war-room. Don was half-sitting on the edge of the table and looking smug, haven stolen Amit's notepad and managing to keep it out of the younger man's reach.

David considered his boss, thinking about the possibilities.

He then turned and watched as Larry and Megan were heading towards the elevators, walking close together and smiling. David and Colby shared a look.

"Guess Cupid's come to town," Colby shrugged.

David nodded and cracked a grin.

"Maybe so, but we are definitely not pairing up."

-BDBD-

Charlie took a deep breath as she stepped out of the taxi. She'd spent two weeks recharging in Vegas and was ready to move on to the next stage of her search for balance.

That didn't mean it was easy, though.

She paid the driver and shouldered her backpack, before slowly making her way up to the front door. She knocked and played with a strand of hair while she waited.

After a minute and forty-three seconds – not that she was counting or anything – the door opened to reveal Ian Edgerton.


	13. Chapter 10: Relationships Confirmed

Bloody hell, we're up to 100 reviews… This is officially my most popular story. Wow.

Dysgrammatophobia , I Keep Goldfish In My Bra, mjels: Don/Amit was a bit of a surprise for me as well. But it was an idea put in my head by a flamer, and I couldn't not write it. Something about Charlie sleeping her way through Don's co-workers, and what would her reaction be if Don started sleeping with her friends… I couldn't resist. So a fail to that flamer for making me laugh and inspiring a side-plot.

Babygurl1944: Hope you like this one too.

Robertaa: I like that pairing too, in case you couldn't tell. Hope you approve of this chapter.

Joniskpelare: Colby'll be fine. Maybe. I haven't really decided what to do with him yet.

Allieluvsedward: Did you hear me complaining? Feel free to bug me any time I'm not updating.

Ddee: …I think I hate you now. Okay, maybe not, but see the note below. This chapter answers a few of the question. And you're welcome.

Aelwing: Yeah, Meg/Larry is sweet. And: what bad English? You're fine. Better than I can type French. I can read it fine, but writing in French is beyond my reach.

Whitelighter013: Glad you like it. I haven't found many other femme-Charlies on this site, though I may have just missed them. Hope you continue to enjoy.

Optimouse: Thanks!

PLEASE NOTE: Thanks to the thoughts Ddee put in my head, there is now an alternate version over on adultfanfiction dot net, that is Don/Charlie. It involves surprisingly few changes… and is going to have my first attempt at writing smut. So if you want a laugh, go over there and read it. Or bug me enough and I might put it up here too.

A couple lines are taken from M*A*S*H and Bagenders, because they were funny and fit in here. Cookies go to whoever can spot them.

-BDBD-

Chapter Ten: Relationships Confirmed. …what it says on the tin, really.

Ian found himself frozen in place. His professor was just full of surprises – he never would have expected her to show up on his doorstep after running away from her family and boyfriend. Yet here she was, playing nervously with a lock of hair and looking about five second from bolting again. So Ian did the sensible thing and stepped to one side, giving her an invitation to bolt towards him instead of away.

Charlie smiled shyly and stepped inside, never breaking eye contact. Ian had the feeling that she'd lose her courage if she looked away, so he closed the door without taking his gaze off her. He found it incredibly amusing that she had chosen his house as the safe place to run to, but wasn't about to jeopardise this chance by saying so. The only sign of his amusement that he let out was a slight quirk of his lips, which could be seen as a smile if Charlie chose to do so.

After a few seconds of silence, weighing up the possible repercussions, Ian removed Charlie's backpack and placed it on the floor, then put his hands on her waist, gently pulling her forwards. Apparently, that was what Charlie had been waiting for, as she responded by leaning up to kiss him fiercely.

Smiling into the kiss, Ian picked her up and decided that he could give her a much more thorough welcome in the bedroom.

Charlie didn't appear to have any objections.

-BDBD-

Amit awoke and started to stretch, when he realised that he wasn't alone in bed. There was a lean, definitely-male body spooned behind him with an arm draped over his waist. After a moment, a goofy grin spread across the young man's face as he realised that last night hadn't been just a vivid dream.

He wriggled a little to get more comfortable, until the arm around him tightened in an effort to keep him still and a growl came from behind him.

"Quit moving, or I'll arrest you for interfering with a Federal Agent's sleep."

Amit let out a chuckle as his companion's hand started stroking his stomach.

"I must say that for a ladies' man, you really seemed to know what you were doing."

"Well," Don smiled as he nuzzled into his young partner's neck, "the geography may be unfamiliar, but the technique's the same. And I've never had any complaints about my technique."

"Mmm, I'm certainly not complaining," Amit sighed as he firmly stomped on his jealousy. He didn't like the thought of Don with anyone else, but he was the one who had brought it up.

Don, however, seemed to realise what was going through his mind and began licking the back of Amit's neck, while the hand that had been stroking his stomach started moving a little lower on each stroke.

"I realise that I've slept around a lot," he tried to reassure the young man in his arms, "but I've never cheated on a partner. If this is going to be a real relationship, then you're not going to find me in anyone else's bed."

The mix of gentle words and soft touches was enough to reduce Amit to a gasping pile of mush, and he happily ignored the fact that this was Charlie's older brother. It had been far too long since someone had been so tender with him, and he was going to enjoy it for as long as possible.

-BDBD-

That evening, Charlie sat on Ian's back porch and watched as the sniper set up some targets. He seemed convinced that shooting something would help to relieve some of the stress that she was feeling, and she was too happy to argue.

After a few minutes he beckoned her over, so Charlie put her water bottle down on the ground and made her way to him, eyeing the gun he held ruefully. It was a pistol of some sort, she knew that much. Beyond that, however…

"It's not going to bite," Ian smirked. "Trust me, you'll feel better after letting a few rounds off."

"I dunno about that," Charlie smiled as she assumed the shooting position he'd shown her earlier. "I think the sex was enough to have me feeling pretty damn good."

"Hmm," Ian hummed in contentment as he ran his hands down her sides and slipped them around her waist. It had left him feeling quite content as well, enough so that he was prepared to accept Charlie's request that he not call Don and tell him that she was here.

With Ian's arms wrapped firmly around her waist, Charlie sighed, aimed and fired. She still wasn't a very good shot, but figured that if it meant so much to Ian, she'd give it a try.

As she fired off a few more rounds, she realised that this was what had been missing from her relationship with Colby – neither of them had really been willing to compromise. Something that was as much her fault as his.

-BDBD-

Alan hummed happily to himself as he read the latest email Charlie had sent. She still wasn't giving him any details about where she was, but she seemed a lot calmer. There was some math-talk that he'd need Larry to translate, which was also good. It showed that she was still exercising her remarkable brain.

He was thankful for that, since Don didn't seem to be using his brain at all. Honestly, one of these days Alan was going to sit his son down and explain that there was simply no way for him to hide the fact that he was in love. Not from his team, and not from his father.

-BDBD-

"Have you decided when you're going back?" Ian asked casually over dinner, as though the answer didn't really matter to him. Charlie knew that it was just an act.

"Not for a while," she shrugged. "I still need to get a few things sorted before I can face all that again. It's… nice, having somewhere to hide, where no one will come looking for me. And I can't fault the company."

Ian nodded, and the two continued eating in silence for a while. Then he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to his guest. When she raised an eyebrow in question, he shrugged.

"Can't see you staying somewhere long without needing to work on some sort of math problem. And I know how much working on paper irritates you."

At that, Charlie broke into a grin and accepted the packet of whiteboard markers.

"Good thing you've got such big windows," she laughed.

-BDBD-

A/N: Yeah, I got Don and Amit together. Because I realised that in every story I write, somewhere there is a gay relationship. Since Charlie has decided to be straight this time, Don got to be the homoqueersicle.

Also, everyone should go read Zillah Chronicles, which will contain all of the Zillah stories and one-shots, and will be posted tonight.


	14. Chapter 11: On Assignment

Here's the chapter that a lot of you have been waiting for. Hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter Eleven: On Assignment. In which Ian gets a case, as does Don.

Weeks passed, and before she knew it Charlie was calling the Dean at CalSci and telling him that she wasn't going to return for the rest of the semester. He didn't seem to be overly concerned, going so far as to say that he was thinking of offering Amit a permanent place on the teaching staff. Charlie agreed with this wholeheartedly.

She'd started going along to Ian's shooting courses at first just to make Ian happy, but then because she turned out to be scarily good. Now that she understood all of the variables, Charlie was able to calculate the ideal stance and position to shoot from.

Of course, it was only paper targets and clay pigeons that she'd shot. The thought of shooting a real person made her break out in a cold sweat.

Charlie smiled as she lowered her weapon and leaned back. Ian was in his usual position right behind her, arms tight around her waist. He was rather possessive, and tended to growl when other men spent too long looking at her. For the moment, Charlie didn't mind. She fully intended to tell him when it got too much though.

"Nice shooting, Professor," Ian smiled against the top of her head. "One of these days I'll get you to come hunting with me."

"Not on your life," Charlie laughed.

"Hmm," Ian hummed, considering. He didn't actually mind that she shied away from violence. He was still amazed at the fact that she now had no problems cleaning, loading and firing a gun. Not that he'd admit it to her, of course.

Once she'd emptied the clip into the target, Ian cleared his throat.

"Professor," he started with his pet-name for her, since it always made her smile. "I've got an assignment. I need to hunt down a man who killed a Federal Marshal." Charlie turned to face him, wondering where this was going. "I'll be operating out of a town called Sibley."

"Wait, in the Angela Crest Mountains? I know it, there's some good hiking trails up there."

"It's probably going to take a few months to find him, since he knows the area so well, and another tracker's already spent quite a while trying to bring him in. I want you to come with me."

Whatever she'd been expecting, it wasn't that. Her shock showed clearly, and Ian couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"I realise it's unexpected, but I don't think it warrants that level of surprise."

Charlie closed her mouth and punched him lightly on the arm.

"You just took my unawares, that's all." A thought occurred to her then. "Wait, that's why you've been pushing me to practise lately, isn't it? You knew that you'd be going somewhere dangerous and wanted me to be able to protect myself."

"Something like that," Ian nodded. Charlie considered, then smiled in agreement.

"Okay then, let's do it. After all, what's the worst that can happen?"

"We get eaten by bears," Ian immediately supplied, making Charlie burst out laughing.

"So, what's the name of your target?" She asked once she calmed down again.

"Bob McHugh. He was selling contaminated beef. Marshals went to arrest him, there was a standoff, all very Wild West. Now he's hiding out in the mountains."

-BDBD-

Meanwhile, Don was discussing his latest case with Larry and Amit. The younger of the trio was working on ways to predict the next move of a man who had been tampering with pharmaceutical products – and was starting to understand why Charlie had run off. Balancing his own studies, covering Charlie's lessons, a relationship with Don and sometimes helping out on cases was a lot to deal with. At least no one expected as much of Amit as they had of Charlie, since while he was very clever, he wasn't a mathematical genius.

Larry had just started flipping through the 'Toxic Manifesto' that had been uncovered, when Don's phone went off.

"Eppes," he answered quickly.

"I just got the phone records," Megan started without bothering to identify herself. "They have the suspect calling from a pay phone in Sibley, California. Turns out the Manifesto was mailed from the same location, so I called the post master up there and he remembers the guy who mailed the package. A middle-aged black man."

"Sibley," Don paused, "Why does that sound familiar?"

"It's where that US Marshal was shot last year. They've been having trouble finding him again."

"Right, I remember now. Think I saw an internal memo saying Edgerton was getting assigned to the case."

"Whew," Megan exhaled sharply. "I sure wouldn't want to be in McHugh's position."

"Yeah. Maybe Edgerton's seen our guy, send Colby and David up to check will you?"

"Already on their way."

Larry chewed on his lower lip in consternation. He'd already gathered from various cluse that Charlotte had gone to stay with the sniper. If Colby were to discover this… he sighed and stared unseeing at the Manifesto in his hands.

He had the feeling that life was about to get very complicated for his younger friend.

-BDBD-

In the car on the way to Sibley, Colby was more excited than David had seen before.

"I'm so pumped! Getting to meet Ian Edgerton…"

"You a fan?" David laughed.

"Dude, the man was a sniping legend in Afghanistan. You'd see his work everywhere but you'd never see him. My Colonel in Special Ops said he was the bastard son of Clint Eastwood and Yoda." There was so much awe in his voice that David nearly broke down in laughter.

"I'll admit the guy's good, but he can be a bit of a dick."

"What?" Colby looked astonished. "You've met him?"

"Yeah, he helped us out on a sniper case a while back." David shook his head, remembering. "Pity Charlie's not here. Man, it was fun seeing those to working together. One minute they'd be at each other's throats, the next they'd be ganging up on Don. Highly entertaining."

Colby had flinched a little at the mention of Charlie. It still hurt, thinking about how badly he'd screwed that up. He hoped that when she came back she'd give him a second chance, but it seemed unlikely, given that she hadn't contacted him at all.

Eventually, they pulled up outside a small diner in Sibley, figuring that it would be a good place to start asking questions. They both got out of the car and headed around to the deck out back, then froze in mid-step.

Edgerton was sitting at one of the tables, his rifle case on the ground next to him. And straddling his lap, arms around his neck and leaning in for a kiss, was Charlie.


	15. Chapter 12: Revelations

Hee. So responses range from hating me to loving me… I think I can deal with that.

Ddee – it is so tempting to change my pen name to that now. So tempting, especially after this chapter.

I fully expect everyone to hate me after this.

Also, I have put the Eppescest version of this up on as well. It can be found through my profile. For those wanting a different take on the story, go read that.

-BDBD-

Chapter Twelve: Revelations. In which everything comes out.

"Well, fuck," David couldn't help the exclamation.

At the sound of his voice, Charlie whipped her head up to look. She swallowed hard, eyes wide in shock, and would probably have bolted… except for the fact that Ian's arms were still wrapped firmly around her waist.

"Not in public, Sinclair," the sniper answered back looking smug, gently stroking Charlie's back with one hand. "But yes, we have been. And who's this?" He nodded at Colby.

David glanced between the other three. Colby looked as though his world had just been destroyed, Charlie was staring down at the ground as though she'd rather be anywhere else, and Ian still had that incredibly smug smile that told David he knew exactly who Colby was.

"That's Colby," Charlie whispered, still not looking up.

"Ah," Ian nodded. "The ex. I'd shake your hand in greeting but, as the current boyfriend, I'm contractually obliged to not like you."

Colby's eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything David stepped in.

"Edgerton, we're here for a reason. Can we talk business?"

"If you insist," Ian nodded at the unoccupied chairs, while Charlie removed herself from his lap. She was blushing heavily, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. The sniper looked up at her, and his expression softened a little as he caught her eye. He flicked his gaze toward the hotel across the street where they'd been staying, letting her know that he was okay with her leaving.

With a final worried glance at the visiting agents, Charlie turned and left. She figured that David could keep Colby under control, and Ian was unlikely to do more than snark if she wasn't there.

Once she got back to the hotel room, she started pacing. Now that David and Colby knew where she was – and more importantly, who she was with – it was only a matter of time before Don found out.

So, she could either wait until one of the boys told him and he came to find her, or she could call him herself, and deal with the fallout now.

As much as she wanted to take option C, run away again, Charlie knew that it was best to talk to Don herself. Reluctantly, she pulled out her phone and dialled the familiar number.

"Eppes."

"Honestly Don, don't you ever look at the caller ID?"

"Charlie!"

"Yeah Donnie, it's me."

"Charlie, where the hell are you?"

"Umm…" _Time to bite the bullet_. "Actually, I'm in Sibley."

"Sibley?... What are you doing there?"

"I came with Ian."

There was a pause, where all Charlie could hear was heavy breathing, like Don was trying to keep his cool. That didn't bode well.

"Donnie, listen. I know you're not gonna approve, but he's taking care of me. He gave me somewhere safe to stay while I found my balance again, and he's supportive of my maths. He listens to me babble about the numbers even if he doesn't understand a word I'm saying. He's gentle with me, but doesn't handle me with kid-gloves, and he gets me to try new hobbies. Please don't be mad."

Again there was silence for a few seconds, before she heard a sigh.

"Charlie… I'm not mad, but I need to see you for myself to trust what you're saying." There was a pause as something occurred to Don. "It was him, wasn't it? You were seeing someone around the time he was in LA for the sniper case… it was him."

"Yeah," Charlie nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "He, uh… taught me how to shoot a rifle, and then we went back to his hotel room. It was meant to be just a one-off thing, but when I needed somewhere to hide… he didn't turn me away. He really cares about me, all of me, and I think I love him too."

"Wait, back up. He taught you to shoot? Charlie, you knew I didn't want you handling guns! Dad's gonna flip when he finds out!"

"And this is why I didn't tell you," Charlie sighed. "Is it so hard to believe that I can make my own decisions about these things?"

Back in LA, Don bit down hard to keep from saying something stupid. The truth was, he did have a hard time accepting the fact that Charlie was a grown woman, capable of running her own life. It was hard to let go of the protective mindset he'd taken on when they were younger. He realised, though, that he had to try or risk being cut out of her life completely.

"I'm sorry, Charlie."

"Wait, what?"

"I said I'm sorry. I know you're an adult, it's just that… I don't want to see you get hurt. I know how much that whole fiasco with Colby upset you, and I hate knowing that there's nothing I can do to protect you from that."

This time it was Charlie's turn to pause in thought.

"Don, you're my big brother, and I appreciate you trying to protect me, I really do. But you tend to go too far." She sighed, then glanced out of the window. The view out into the forest was beautiful, and very calming. "Look, why don't you come up here yourself? You can see with your own eyes that I'm okay and Ian's treating me right. And help me keep him and Colby from killing each other."

"Oh yeah," Don suddenly remembered that his agents had gone to meet with the sniper. "I'll be there…" he glanced at his watch. "I'll be there around five, okay? We can go hunting for our suspect tomorrow."

"Okay. Bring the file with you, and I'll see if there's anything I can do to help."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I've been doing some equations to help Ian track down McHugh. It's definitely cutting down on the time it'd take without me, and it gives me something to think about while he's off out in the woods."

"Okay. I'll see you soon then, Baby Doll."

"See you, Donnie."

Charlie hung up with a sigh, relieved. It had gone better than she'd expected. Then again, that wasn't hard, since she'd expected it to degenerate into a shouting match within the first minute.

Now all she had to do was keep Colby and Ian from killing each other until Don arrived.

-BDBD-

Back at the diner, Colby was biting his tongue while David filled Edgerton in. He couldn't believe that one of his heroes had been the one to steal his girlfriend away. The worst part was the smug look on the sniper's face, a look that was almost daring him to take a swing. Add to that the fact that the guy was only half paying attention to the case, instead opting to scribble something on a placemat.

Then it struck him that Charlie did the same thing. She could never focus on a conversation unless her hands were doing something.

"So," David asked as he wrapped up, "do you think you can give us a description of the mystery man?"

"How about a picture?" Ian smirked as he pushed the finished sketch across the table.

Colby couldn't keep his jaw from dropping at the quality of the drawing. That was from memory?

Ian grinned at the look of dismay on Granger's face. The sooner the boy realised that he didn't stand a chance at getting Charlie back, the better.

-BDBD-

By the time Don reached Sibley, Megan had come up with a name for their suspect, Mark Brott, former lead scientist at Graybridge Pharmaceuticals. Charlie had talked the hotel owner into letting her use his scanner and internet connection to send Ian's sketch to the FBI office, which confirmed the identification.

Having spoken on the phone and gotten some of his concerns answered, Don was holding off on interrogating Ian and Charlie until the case was solved. Instead, he'd sent David back to LA to help Megan. Now he, Colby and Ian were sitting in the diner proper, discussing where to look for the two suspects. The sniper had just mentioned that Charlie was working on some equations for him, when the mathematician in question ran in carrying a map and several bits of paper.

"I found McHugh's most likely locations using isospectral geometrics," she started as she spread the map onto the counter.

"Of course you did," Ian smiled and pulled her onto his lap. Charlie continued, ignoring the interruption.

"Everyone knows that the shortest distance between two points is a?"

"Straight line," Don supplied. He knew that much, at least.

"Exactly," Charlie beamed at her big brother. She went on to explain how she had isolated McHugh's most likely paths between his frequent campsites, and where they intersected, but Colby wasn't listening.

He was watching the way that Charlie seemed perfectly at ease sitting on Edgerton's lap, and the way one of his hands was stroking her side, seemingly unconsciously. The sniper even seemed to understand some of what Charlie was talking about.

Colby nearly felt ill with jealousy. It was meant to be _him_ holding Charlie close and nodding along to her math-talk. She was meant to be wearing _his_ ring and getting ready to marry _him_, not hiding from the world with a man who killed people for a living.

He could give her security and love and a family. What sort of life could Edgerton provide for her? He was always on the move, always hunting down the next target.

So why did Charlie seem to prefer that option?

-BDBD-

The next day, all four went to McHugh's old ranch to see his wife. As the woman slammed the door, Charlie reflected that it could have gone better.

Don started to go through the stand-off again, figuring that seeing the terrain for themselves might help.

"So, when the marshals come to arrest him, he barricades himself inside the house. Now four days later, in the middle of a negotiation, for no apparent reason, he opens fire."

"When did 'crazy' stop being a reason?" Ian quipped, making Charlie smile. She didn't notice the dark look that Colby sent the sniper, but he did.

Don rolled his eyes and continued.

"A negotiator catches one in the neck, like right around here."

"The assault team went in through the front and side doors," Ian finished the chain of events. "McHugh went out that side window and made it to the tree line there."

Don looked from the map to the trees – and noticed something. Something that looked like an exit blast in the roof's beams.

Ian confirmed his growing suspicions. Someone else had been present, and it had been the third party that had shot the negotiator.

When Ian spotted fresh tracks leading away from the ranch house, Don tried to tell Charlie to go back to the hotel, only to be met with blank looks from both her and Ian.

"Don," the sniper explained, "she's safer sticking with us than going back by herself."

"And anyway," Charlie shrugged, "technically I don't have a licence at the moment. It got revoked again."

Don sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But when we find McHugh, you hang back out of range, got it?"

"Yes, Dad," Charlie griped.

-BDBD-

Once they spotted McHugh, Don turned to his sister again.

"Okay Charlie, back to the car now."

"But Don-"

"No, Charlie. You go back to where it's safe, and Ian'll come get you when we've arrested McHugh. Now go."

At the look on his face, Charlie sighed and turned to leave. When he got that look in his eye, nothing she said would make any difference.

A few minutes later, she was walking along a ridge above a dried-out creek bed, when a man stepped out from the trees in front of her. She didn't recognise him – he was taller than her, with dark brown hair and a goatee. He was carrying a rifle slung across his back, which immediately made Charlie nervous. She carefully slipped her hand into her bag so that the gun Ian had bought her was within reach.

"Professor Eppes, I take it?" The man asked, sounding amused.

"Yeah," Charlie answered slowly.

"You're looking for Mark Brott and Bob McHugh."

"Well, my brother is," she shrugged. "I don't really have that much to do with it."

"That's as may be, but unfortunately I can't allow them to be found. Alive, anyway. So I'm taking you out of the investigation."

The man lunged forward, but Charlie was quicker. She pulled the gun out from her bag and fired at him as she sidestepped out of his way.

She forgot, however, that this time there was no Ian standing behind her, and stumbled backwards – right over the edge of the ridge.


	16. Chapter 13: Wrapping Up

Sorry for taking so long guys. I've decided that this will be the final chapter – my muse has apparently run off with the muse for NSITH and Exchange Program, and a new one has taken their places. And, I move interstate in three weeks, so not much time for writing. Meep.

Hopefully this leaves you all with a satisfying end to the story, if there's something that I forgot to address leave a message and I may be able to put up an epilogue, or some one-shots into this verse. This chapter contains one particular scene that has been in my head ever since deciding that it would be CE – the (brief) meeting between Ian and Yardley.

Also, for those wanting to know what Charlie and Amit look like in this verse, follow the link in my profile to my DeviantArt page. I've got illustrations for a few of my stories posted there, including one of Amit and Charlie's first visit to the FBI office, and one of Don and Zillah from Zillah Chronicles.

Dysgrammatophobia: Due to my habit of disappearing for a month or more at a time, I tend to avoid cliff-hangers – but couldn't help myself here. Glad you liked them.

Ddee: I changed my name over on AFF. Couldn't be bothered here, as could cause too much confusion.

FoxxyGoddess: Yeah, I'm a definite Ian/Charlie shipper. Tried CC, but couldn't keep it up. If you know what I mean *grin*

Flitwick: I think it's improved the more I wrote, hopefully you agree. It seems that it's mostly Numb3rs fans who dislike having show-quote fics, in other fandoms they go over pretty well – hence why I didn't keep going with them here. If people aren't enjoying something, time to switch methods. Hope you like the final chapter.

To everyone else who didn't get a direct response: Thanks for taking the time to review, that's what eventually gave me the kick I needed to finish it off. Hope to see you again in other fics I write.

-BDBD-

Chapter Thirteen: Wrapping up. In which the tale comes to a conclusion.

Colby paused and glanced at the other two men. Edgerton had moved quickly, circling around and up a hill slope to set up a better shot in case things went south. Don was on the phone, calling in backup. Neither seemed to have heard the faint gunshot.

Shrugging, Colby returned his attention to the task in front of him. It was probably just someone out hunting.

He carefully ignored the little voice in the back of his head saying, hunting what?

-BDBD-

It took about half an hour, but in the end McHugh was talked down and taken back to town. He was with local officers giving his statement, and the three agents were headed back to the ranch to collect Charlie and the car. Upon reaching it, however, all three men paused in their conversation.

The car was right where they'd left it, but Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

"It's been nearly an hour," Colby said, looking at his watch. "Think she got bored and headed back by herself?"

"We would have seen her on the road," Don shook his head.

Ian looked up from where he'd been studying the ground, face expressionless.

"I don't think she's been back here. There's a lot of activity, but I don't see her tracks going back to the car."

Don immediately pulled out his phone and dialled her number. After a minute, he hung up in disgust.

"Message bank," he bit out.

Colby stared at the ground, remembering the gunshot he'd heard earlier, but didn't say anything. He missed the calculating look Ian sent his way.

"Well," the sniper turned his eyes back to the forest, "we know she was headed back here. Let's move on out, see if she's still on the path for some reason."

Ian led the way, with Don following and Colby in the back. The youngest agent was torn between hoping that Charlie was okay, and resenting the fact that it was going to be Ian saving her.

After about ten minutes of walking, they heard the sound of laboured breathing. Rounding a corner in the track, they saw a man leaning against a tree, bleeding from a stomach wound. Colby recognised him as Yardley, Graybridge Pharmaceutical's hired gun, and he was obviously fatally wounded.

Yardley sneered and raised his gun, but Ian was faster. Without breaking his stride, he put a bullet between the man's eyes and continued walking as though nothing had happened.

At that, Colby swallowed hard. Sure, he'd heard all the stories about how ruthless the sniper could be, but he'd never seen the man in action. He obviously didn't care much about the sanctity of human life if someone got in his way.

Don had flinched a little, but kept walking. He understood well the need to get to Charlie, even if he would have been reluctant to kill someone to do it.

Ian ignored the reactions of the other men, far more concerned with Charlie's safety. He stepped up to the edge of the ridge where he could see signs of a scuffle and looked down, too scared even to swear. Lying several feet down was Charlie, eyes closed and not moving.

Without pausing to think, Ian quickly climbed down and crouched by her side, checking for vital signs. He let out a sigh of relief when he found even, if shallow, breathing and a steady pulse. Carefully he ran his fingers over the back of her head and frowned when he found blood.

"Charlie!" Don let out a cry as he scrambled down. He was only slightly reassured by Ian's grim smile.

"Vital signs are good, but she banged her head. We're gonna need Rescue."

"Colby's calling them," Don muttered as he gently took one of Charlie's hands.

Ian gently stroked his professor's face with one finger, then sat back on his heels to wait.

-BDBD-

At Don's insistence, Charlie had been airlifted back to a hospital in Los Angeles. She's woken briefly before the paramedics arrived, but had fallen unconscious again fairly quickly. Don had flown with her in the helicopter, while Ian and Colby drove back. Ian hadn't objected to the arrangements, knowing that Don needed to keep Charlie in his sight for a while, and that she'd need her family and friends around her while she recovered. Not that he'd be leaving her any time soon of course – he counted himself in the former category.

When Ian arrived at the hospital, he quickly found Alan at reception, filling in Charlie's paperwork. Though they hadn't been introduced, Charlie had shown Ian a few photographs of her father which she kept on her computer.

"Mr Eppes?" Ian asked softly. Alan's head jerked up, then his eyes lowered again when he saw that the newcomer wasn't a doctor.

"That's me. Who are you?" Alan responded gruffly, allowing his contrary side to come through.

"Ian Edgerton, Sir. Charlie's been staying with me for the last few weeks."

Alan paused and looked him over again. When Charlie had said that she was staying with a friend, he'd assumed that it was a friend she knew through her academic circles. This man, dressed in camouflage gear and with a familiar 'Federal Agent' air, was not what he'd had in mind.

"Oh," Alan muttered. "She has, has she?"

"Yes. I've been taking care of her, and will continue to do so until she decides to move on." Ian had a firm yet calming manner that managed to sooth Alan's worries. Don had already told him that it was his fault that Charlie had been walking back by herself, and that Ian had had her safety in mind at all times. While he'd never imagined his daughter with someone who killed people for a living, Alan could already see how the two would complement each other.

After looking at the younger man for a minute longer, Alan nodded.

"Well then, you'd best get back to her bedside. She'll be wanting to see you."

"Yes Sir," Ian quirked a smile, then made his way to Charlie's room. At least her father seemed to approve – now to make sure that Don was on side.

-BDBD-

Charlie was discharged the next day and relocated back to the Craftsman. She'd been diagnosed with a mild concussion, aggravated by shock and exposure, and was going to be just fine. Ian had to return to Quantico, and the doctors wanted her to stay close for a few days to make sure there were no hidden problems, so Alan was in his element taking care of his youngest child. Charlie had already made it clear that she was following Ian back as soon as the doctors let her on a plane.

"How do you feel about that?" Amit asked Don as they lay curled around each other in bed. The agent didn't answer for a few minutes, opting instead to trace invisible patterns on his lover's arm. "Don, talk to me. Bottling it all up won't do you any good."

"I know," Don sighed. "I don't want her leaving again. We haven't talked about what happened before she left last time, not really. And I'm scared that if she leaves again, she won't come back."

"So what are you going to tell her?"

"That I hope she's happy and stay safe," Don whispered. "If I try to keep her here, she'll just fight harder to leave. This way… maybe she'll come back, and at least she'll keep in touch now that we know where she's staying."

"Good," Amit smiled and softly kissed Don. "Now get some sleep. We both have work tomorrow."

-BDBD-

This time, Don and Alan saw Charlie off at the airport. Alan fussed over his little girl, and Don made Charlie laugh by pulling faces behind their father's back.

At the other end, Ian was waiting for her. The car ride back to Ian's was spent going over the recoil of various weapons, and stories from Charlie about how sweet Larry and Megan were as a couple. There was also a fair amount of speculation about Don and Amit's relationship.

When Charlie finally made her way to the living room, she stopped in her tracks. The walls and ceiling had been coated in Blackboard paint. She turned and looked at Ian in confusion.

Ian smiled down at her, then handed her a new packet of chalk.

"You were running out of window space." A grin spread across Charlie's face as Ian bent down to kiss her. As her arms wrapped around him, he pulled back briefly.

"Welcome home, Professor."

-THE END-


End file.
